Panaji: A day ahead of AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge’s arrival in Goa for a meeting with the Congress blocks, the party’s alliance partner made a provocative statement about the future of the Goa Forward Party’s (GFP) alliance with the old party.GFP MLA Vijai Sardesai said that Congress cannot be trusted and further defections of Congress MLAs after the 2027 assembly elections cannot be ruled out.“We have not yet reached the stage of talking (about an alliance) and there is nothing left to talk about because they don’t keep their word, which is why our party has reached this decision of suspending the talks,” said Sardesai while talking to some reporters.Sardesai said that his party is working to strengthen itself ahead of the polls, just like Congress is trying to build its base in all 40 seats.Asked if a meeting with Kharge is likely on Monday, Sardesai said that Kharge’s visit to Goa is an internal matter for the Congress. “Kharge is not coming to meet us. It has nothing to do with us,” he said.Discontent has been simmering between the two alliance partners for months with the issue seemingly reaching a tipping point when Sardesai was reportedly not invited for a meeting of all the opposition MLAs. Sardesai said that opposition leader Yuri Alemao failed to invite him. Girish Chodankar’s abrupt replacement of Amit Patkar as the state Congress president has also been seen as an indication of Sardesai being kept in the dark by Congress.“The alliance that I was committed to was between 2022 to 2027. To continue the alliance or to do something else, there were many things that were discussed in the past. We have to form an alternative govt, we have to discuss policies, we have to discuss individuals, we have to discuss who is going to replace whom,” said Sardesai.“The people of Goa are now thinking that Congress is going to do a hatrick in defections therefore we are thinking that we have to go to the people and restore their confidence that we will not do this,” said Sardesai.
