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Trouble for Congress as regional parties unite

Sandesh Prabhudesai in Panaji

The ruling Congress may face an uphill task in the forthcoming assembly election as the regional forces are sinking their differences to consolidate the anti-Congress votes in Goa.

Former chief minister Dr Wilfred de Souza, who had dislodged the Congress government by joining hands with the Opposition to form a short-lived coalition government, is now trying to bring together all the regional parties in the state.

A co-ordination committee has already been set up involving Dr de Souza's Goa Rajiv Congress and the United Goans Democratic Party, which has remained intact even after its founder and former MP Churchill Alemao had joined the Congress.

''We will respond to Dr de Souza's call only after consulting our workers,'' says Surendra Sirsat, president of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party, Goa's main Opposition party. He, however, sees no reason to remain out of the front and divide the non-Congress forces in the state.

Both the MGP and the Bharatiya Janata Party had reservations about joining hands with the Catholic-dominated UGDP till Alemao was at the helm. Today, however, they are eager to join hands with the UGDP as well as Dr de Souza's GRC, realising that the traditional Congress voters among the Catholics are shifting their loyalties.

Though the BJP has decided to go it alone following its national executive's directive in this regard, the party's local leadership is not averse to the idea of helping the front from outside.

''We may have a few seat adjustments, depending on the situation,'' says BJP spokesperson Manohar Parrikar.

While the three parties -- the MGP, the BJP and the UGDP -- had won 21 out of 40 assembly seats in the 1994 poll, four MGP and all the three UGDP legislators are now in the Congress.

Rather than approaching the electorate with individual charisma, the parties are trying to derive mileage from the people's disenchantment with the toppling games in the state.

Though the assembly poll is nine months away, former Union minister and MGP leader Ramakant Khalap predicts early polls, based on which the joint strategy has been evolved. ''The House may be dissolved by next month,'' he said.

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