The hopes have risen among the Trinamool Congress and Aam Aadmi Party inside goa politics to take advantage of the suspense in Congress. Consequently, it gives them a chance to take its place in Goa’s politics. Both the parties had high hopes for the March polls held in the state earlier this year. Although they did not get any significant results they have now got a chance to get a significant position in the smallest State of the country.
It was speculated that they might come together with Congress after the polls if numbers were needed to form the government. However, even before the polls both the parties criticized BJP and Congress equally during their election campaigning in the state. They even criticized the parry after there were reports that nearly 5 from the total 11 Congress MLAs in goa could leave the party and switch sides to the ruling party of the BJP. The party authorities sent a senior leader Mukul Wasnik to look into the party situation in the coastal state.
Now, the situation in Congress has become a little clear. Also, the leader of Opposition from the party, Michael Lobo was ousted from the party. Also, the former chief minister Kamat of “conspiring” and “hobnobbing” created a split in the Congress to go with the BJP. Although there was no communication possible with the MLAs earlier, now the communication has been established. The 5 MLAs even took part in the Assembly session claiming nothing was wrong.
AAP and TMC members were quick to react and recalled that they had been telling voters that the Congress MLAs could easily switch sides to the BJP. Approximately 15 MLAs went to join the BJP during the polls in March this year.
The position of TMC and AAP in Goa politics
TMC could not score well in the state and made an alliance with the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party. The latter gave support to BJP after the elections. They contested for 26 seats and got 5.1% of the total votes in the elections. On the other hand, AAP fought for 39 seats and won 2 with 6.77% votes.
Summing up,
The act of defection in Goa is not new and took place multiple times before and during the polls. But, things have become more crucial after the entry of TMC and AAP in the state. Earlier there were BJP, Congress, and regional parties in competition. Also, the recent big political shift in the state of Maharashtra raised more speculations. But, things seem to have been sorted for now that have chances to ignite in the future.
