Goa high on TMC radar; Mamata to visit on October 28

The Trinamool Congress has made it clear that its intent in Goa is to capture power in next year's Assembly elections with the announcement of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's visit to the coastal state next Thursday.

It does not want to be counted as a 'political tourist' in the state where it believes it can overcome the challenge of the ruling BJP and push the Congress behind it with an in-house analysis promising a fertile ground for its national expansion plans.

The Trinamool's entry into the state comes months after Mamata returned to power for the third time in Bengal that cemented her place as one of the prominent Opposition faces against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Also read: BJP rules out leadership change in Goa after AAP's claim

It also marks the party's wish to throw off the shackles of being just a Bengal-based party and increase its footprint beyond. In this exercise, it has added Tripura to the list along with Goa.

Mamata's “maiden” visit to Goa marks her confidence that her party has a space in Goa. She tweeted an appeal to “all individuals, organisations and political parties to join forces to defeat the BJP and their divisive agenda” as Goans have “suffered enough over the last 10 years."

The Trinamool has assigned its Rajya Sabha floor leader Derek O'Brien to prepare the party for the next elections and it started with a bang as it pocketed senior Congress leader and two-time Chief Minister Luizinho Faleiro and independent MLA Prasad Goankar.

It was the election victory in May that gave Trinamool the confidence to expand after a ground study to assess its chances. Party leaders point out two developments in June for the renewed push by the Trinamool – electing Mamata's nephew Abhishek Banerjee as General Secretary and giving a five-year contract to election strategy firm I-PAC for another term.

"After taking over, Abhishek Banerjee was very clear that the party should stop fighting elections everywhere. He said there was no point in winning one or two MLA seats in a state. He told us that if we are entering a state and fighting elections, it is to win," a senior Trinamool leader said.

Inputs from I-PAC and senior leaders' political assessment led to the “obvious” choice of neighbouring Tripura. Goa was chosen as the second destination by early September after the I-PAC's advice.

Also read: Trinamool Congress appoints ex-Goa CM Luizinho Faleiro as national VP

The Trinamool assessment was that the BJP has a high disapproval rating in Goa while the Congress faces a “perception” issue after 10 of its MLAs crossed over to the saffron party soon after the 2017 elections. It also does not consider the AAP as a major player in Goa where the Arvind Kejriwal-led party, the Trinamool thinks, would not be investing much in resources due to its preoccupation with the Punjab Assembly polls.

While it is looking for a Hindu face for the polls, the Trinamool is not much enthused about alliances and wants “mergers”. They cite the previous examples where smaller parties fight elections together and then jump the ship to join another alliance post polls.

Sources said the party chose Goa with 40 seats and Tripura with 60 seats in Assembly while "consciously deciding" not to venture into states like Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu or Uttar Pradesh where Opposition allies are in a stronger position. "We don't want to waste our resources and money in such states," the leader said.

“We are fighting for just 40 seats next year (in Goa) and 60 seats (Tripura) in 2023. Nothing more. In Lok Sabha elections, we look at around 50 seats – 42 from Bengal and two each from Goa and Tripura as well as 3-4 more from other states,” the senior leader said.

In both Tripura and Goa, the Trinamool's gain could be Congress' loss though Congress leaders are of the view that it can reverse the misfortunes it faced.