Failing to reach a seat adjustment with the Congress in Goa, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) is set to go it alone in the upcoming Assembly election.
“There has been no decision with the Congress on seat-sharing in Goa. Discussions have not been held yet. It is likely that we will go solo here like we did last time,” Maharashtra Minister and the party’s chief spokesperson Nawab Malik said on Saturday.
NCP chief Sharad Pawar announced last week that the party would be contesting in three of the five States that are slated to go to the polls in the coming months — Uttar Pradesh, Manipur and Goa. People in Goa and Uttar Pradesh, Mr. Pawar had said, were looking for change and elections would bring that change. He had said that the party would hold talks with the Congress, Shiv Sena and Trinamool Congress for seat-sharing arrangement.
Mr. Malik said on Saturday that the party would be contesting in U.P. in alliance with the Samajwadi Party in one seat and it had finalised an alliance with the Congress in Manipur. “There have been no talks with the Congress yet on Goa,” he said.
NCP’s lone MLA in Goa, Churchill Alemao, joined the Trinamool in December the past year. Senior party leader Praful Patel has been given the charge of deciding the party’s strategy in Goa.
