AAP, Goa Forward Party announce ‘Goa First’ alliance for 2027 polls

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Goa based Goa Forward Party on Sunday formally announced that they will be contesting the upcoming Goa assembly elections in an alliance, called ‘Goa First.’

Former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, who addressed a joint press conference with Goa Forward Party chief Vijai Sardesai, said the alliance was necessary since “the people of Goa have been deceived twice and are not in a mood to be deceived again.”

“Up to now the people did not have an option apart from the Congress and the BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party]. This is the first time the people have Goa First as an option, which is a non-BJP, non-Congress alliance, a formidable alliance,” Kejriwal added.

Sardesai said the alliance is of like-minded parties that wish to defeat the BJP and have no faith that Congress MLAs will not defect to the BJP, as they did twice in the past.

“This alliance is an alternative to a government that is without ideology, a government that is made up of defectors. Goa has got a bad name because of defection and the people of Goa have been cheated. The Congress voter has been cheated because he voted for the Congress. The loyal Congress voter and the loyal BJP voter have been cheated. We don’t want the people of Goa to be cheated for a third time. We don’t want a hat-trick which has been predicted by the people of Goa at large,” Sardesai said.

Kejriwal for his part defended his claims that AAP MLAs will remain loyal and not defect, saying that the AAP’s Rajya Sabha MPs who shifted to the BJP did not betray their voters, but betrayed the party that sent them there.

“Our party contested its first election in 2013. We set up in 2012 and in our first election we won 28 seats out of 70. BJP had 32, they needed 36. They only needed four seats. They imposed President’s rule for a year. They tried their best to take four of our MLAs. For a year they were unable to break our MLAs and unable to form a government. Elections had to be held again and we won 67 seats,” Kejriwal said.

“In 2022, we won two MLAs, the BJP needed one MLA. They were trying for the last four years to break away our MLAs without success. In Jammu and Kashmir, they tried their best to take our lone MLA, without success. In Gujarat one of our MLAs resigned and we defeated him in the by-election. None of our elected representatives have cheated the people anywhere. Our Rajya Sabha MPs who left and went, have cheated the party. It was the party that had chosen them to represent them at the Rajya Sabha. The AAP has not betrayed its voters to date,” Kejriwal said.

He added that going forward the party will “think a hundred times before deciding who will be sent to the Rajya Sabha.”

Kejriwal also denied that the newly formed front would split the opposition vote saying that the party would draw votes from both those who otherwise vote for the BJP and the Congress.

“The people who are fed up with the BJP but do not want to vote for the Congress have the option of voting for this alliance,” Kejriwal said.

The Goa Forward Party, a regional party in the state set up in the run up to the 2017 Goa legislative assembly elections campaigned on an anti-BJP plank, but after winning three seats, helped the BJP form a government despite the Congress being the single largest party.

Sardesai said the whole party deciding to change sides did not fall under the definition of a ‘defection’ and that despite having offers in 2022 he chose not to join the ruling alliance since he had a pre poll alliance with the Congress.

In 2022 legislative assembly elections the AAP won 6.77% of the vote and two seats while the Goa Forward Party won 1.78% of the vote with Vijai Sardesai being the party’s lone MLA elected.

Goa’s 40-member legislative assembly is expected to go to the polls in early 2027.