Just a day after forming the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra, with new allies Congress and NCP, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Friday predicted that there could be a “miracle” and a potential political earthquake in BJP ruled Goa soon.
“At least four MLAs, including those with Goa Forward Party President Vijay Sardesai are in contact with Shiv Sena. We plan to form a separate front in that state with various parties, including Congress. We are hopeful that there could be a ‘miracle’ in Goa also soon,” Raut said while talking to reporters.
Former Goa Deputy Chief Minister Vijai Sardesai of the Goa Forward Party is in touch with the Shiv Sena, Raut said.
“A new political front is taking shape in Goa, just like it happened in Maharashtra. Jaldi hi Goa mein bhi aapko ek chamatkar dikhai dega (Soon you will witness a miracle in Goa),” new agency ANI quoted Raut as saying.
“A new political front is taking shape in Goa, just like it happened in Maharashtra. Jaldi hi Goa mein bhi aapko ek chamatkar dikhai dega (Soon you will witness a miracle in Goa),” news agency quoted Sanjay Raut as saying.
The former Goa Deputy CM Sardesai said that “we will try to do a repeat of Maharashtra in Goa”. “We are a regional party. Our opinion is that what has happened in Maharashtra should be emulated elsewhere in India. We shall tie up with Shiv Sena, NCP and other parties to form a powerful front,” while speaking to the reporters briefly.
He also said that he has high regard for NCP supremo Sharad Pawar, who was the “magnet” behind the Maharashtra coalition.
On the back of a series of defections, the BJP currently has 27 MLAs and the support of three independent MLAs. The Congress which had 17 MLAs in 2017 has been reduced to five; the Goa Forward has three legislators, while Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party and the Nationalist Congress Party have one MLA each.
In 2017, Goa Assembly elections saw a hung assembly with Congress getting 17 and BJP 13 seats. BJP then out maneuvered the Congress and stitched together a coalition. In July this year, a group of 10 Congress MLAs in the coastal state, led by Leader of Opposition in the assembly Chandrakant Kavlekar, merged with the ruling BJP, increasing the saffron party’s strength to 27 in the 40-member House.