Goa assembly polls: NCP allies with Sena, says offer to Congress for joint fight in vain

NCP leader Praful Patel said his party made an offer to Congress to jointly contest Goa polls, but in vain. “They neither said yes nor no,” he added.

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Wednesday said an offer to the Congress to jointly contest the upcoming Goa Assembly election went in vain. NCP leader Praful Patel said the Sharad Pawar-led party will tie-up with the Shiv Sena for the election in the coastal state and field candidates from most of the seats. Patel said the first list of candidates will be released on Thursday.

File image of NSP leader Praful Patel.

“We made an offer to Congress to jointly contest Goa polls, but in vain. They neither said yes nor no…”, Patel was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

“NCP and Shiv Sena will jointly fight Goa polls, not on all 40 seats, but a substantial number. First list may be released tomorrow followed by other lists,” he further said.

The Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress are ruling allies in neighbouring Maharashtra with Sena head Uddhav Thackeray at the helm.

The Congress has already released its list of candidates for a number of Assembly seats. The Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress and Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party, both of which are on an expansion bid beyond their traditional bases, have also announced separate lists of candidates, putting to rest speculations over a grand opposition alliance to fight the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The Congress has named nine candidates, TMC 11 and AAP five.