Decision on pre-poll alliance should be done at earliest: Goa NCP chief

“Whether we should go with an alliance with other parties or not, it has to be decided now," Nationalist Congress Party Goa chief Jose Phillip D’Souza said

Political alignment and seat sharing talks for the 2022 state assembly elections should be held with like-minded parties at the earliest, state president of the Nationalist Congress Party Jose Phillip D’Souza said on Wednesday.

D’Souza’s comments come ahead of the visit of NCP supremo Sharad Pawar to Goa, where the top leader is scheduled to conduct a meeting of the party’s state executive committee and discuss the strategy for the upcoming elections.

“Whether we should go with an alliance with other parties or not, it has to be decided now. If we leave it for too late, with a month or two to go for elections, there is limited scope for discussion and things can go wrong. The talks should begin now," D'Souza told reporters.

The NCP, which contested the 2017 state assembly elections on its own after failing to tie-up with its traditional ally, the Congress party, had fared miserably after managing to win only one out of the 16 seats it had fielded candidates in.

In November last year, NCP national vice president Praful Patel had said that his party was keen on contesting “six to seven seats” in the 2022 state election as part of a secular alliance against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

D’Souza said that he would be discussing the issue related to seat-sharing with like-minded parties during the national leaders visit to Goa.

“We will be discussing our electoral agenda with Sharad Pawar ji, because elections are just an year away," D'Souza said.

The Congress so far has kept its cards close to its chest, as far as its strategy for the 2022 assembly elections is concerned.

In November, however state Congress president Girish Chodankar as well as Leader of Opposition Digambar Kamat met Pawar during the latter’s “personal visit” to Goa.