Goa’s anti-BJP coalition teeters as AAP ally makes a case for ‘grand unity’

AAP and GFP announced the ‘Goa First’ alliance on September 13. (File Photo)

3 min readPanajiOct 7, 2026 05:30 AM IST First published on: Oct 7, 2026 at 05:30 AM IST

Weeks after the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Goa Forward Party (GFP) announced a joint alliance for the 2027 Assembly elections in the coastal state, the alliance seems to be fracturing in less than a month.

The AAP and the GFP had announced the “Goa First” alliance on September 13, calling it a “non-BJP, non-Congress” platform, which would offer an “alternative to the BJP-Congress collusion” in the state. In the days leading up to the alliance, hoardings bearing the AAP and GFP symbols came up along the national highway in the state. The hoardings targeted the BJP and the Congress over the issue of defections, saying, “Congress and BJP cheated you twice. Don’t let them cheat you the third time.” On Tuesday, some of these hoardings were pulled down.

In the past few days, GFP president Vijai Sardesai has reiterated that the people of Goa want a “grand alliance” of all the parties to defeat the BJP, leading to speculation of allying with the Congress. On Tuesday, Sardesai said, “In politics, the voter is the King. From Goan voters, I can hear only one call…that a grand alliance is necessary. They want a grand alliance of all parties coming together to defeat the BJP. This echo is such that even if you are hard of hearing, you will be able to hear it.”

“If you brought mangoes to Goa and instead of Mancurad, you begin selling Alphonso or Dasheri from Delhi, will that sell? It won’t. Because Goans don’t like their taste. What do the Goans want? They want a Mancurad, be it a Cardozo Mancurad or a Bardez Mancurad. But they want an original Mancurad,” he said.

Sardesai said no final decision was taken though. “There is a call for a greater unity of all those who are genuinely opposed to the BJP. So, if this alliance is to be brought together, it cannot be through targeting the principal Opposition party. This is what the people feel. And we have to do what the people feel.”

AAP seeks clarification

The AAP has now asked Sardesai to clarify his stand on the alliance. In a statement on Monday, the party’s core committee said the BJP-Congress “joint venture” had destroyed Goa in the last decade and that Sardesai “must decide whether he stands with the BJP-Congress joint venture or with the people of Goa.”

AAP Goa president Valmiki Naik said it was clear and agreed upon from the start that there would be no place for the Congress in the Goa First Alliance. Naik said Congress candidates had deep roots in the BJP and “all the signs point to a ‘hat-trick’ of defections by the Congress”. On Tuesday, the AAP reiterated that Goa First is a “non-BJP non-Congress” platform.

In 2022, the BJP emerged as the single-largest party, winning 20 of the state’s 40 seats, while the Congress returned with 11. The GFP contested the 2022 Assembly polls in alliance with the Congress and won one seat, represented by Sardesai, the Fatorda MLA. The AAP won two seats. Subsequently, in September 2022, eight Congress MLAs defected to the BJP, bringing the Congress’s tally down to three. Earlier, in 2019, 10 Congress MLAs had defected to the BJP.