Margao: AAP and GFP are set to seal their pre-poll alliance in Goa, with AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal likely to formally announce the tie-up on Sunday.Kejriwal on Saturday posted on his official X handle, “Am going to Goa today to make a very big announcement.”While the seat-sharing arrangement between the two parties is yet to be worked out, AAP sources said preliminary talks have led to a broader understanding that the two parties will contest in a mutually beneficial manner — with AAP focusing on constituencies where it has a strong presence, and GFP contesting seats where AAP’s base is weak.Ahead of Kejriwal’s visit, hoardings with symbols of both parties appeared along the state highways on Saturday. The posters bear the slogan, “Don’t let them cheat you a third time”, an apparent swipe at Congress, whose MLAs twice switched to BJP en masse: 10 of its 15 MLAs, led by then leader of opposition Chandrakant Kavlekar, joined BJP in July 2019, while eight of its 11 MLAs, including ex-CM Digambar Kamat, crossed over in Sep 2022.The messaging on the hoardings builds on a narrative that repeated defections have made Congress an unreliable ally.GFP president Vijai Sardesai had earlier said that the “wholesale defection” issue was the central sticking point in his party’s stalled talks with Congress, alleging a “hat-trick of defection in the making”. He had said that GFP’s decision to suspend alliance talks with Congress was born out of Congress’s refusal to address those concerns. Sources close to the development said the alliance is likely to be projected as a non-BJP, non-Congress front for the 2027 assembly elections.A section of disgruntled Congress functionaries, unhappy with the change of guard in the party, are also learnt to be in touch with the two parties and may formally join the AAP-GFP alliance.
