Panaji: In what seems to have developed fissures in the proposed alliance between like-minded anti-BJP parties, the Revolutionary Goans Party (RGP) has accused its alliance partners of appeasing migrants in the state.
Addressing a press conference in Panaji, RGP Chief Manoj Parab on Tuesday said that his party may not go ahead with the alliance for the 2027 elections if partners, including Congress and Goa Forward Party (GFP), continue appeasing migrants.
Congress, RGP, and Goa Forward, on the eve of Diwali, had announced their alliance for the upcoming 2027 Goa Legislative Assembly elections. Leaders from all these political parties had showcased their unity during an event held at Fatorda village in South Goa, organised by GFP President Vijai Sardesai.
“Maybe MGP, BJP, Congress or Goa Forward Party, they survive on the votes of these migrants and play their politics. If people feel that we should have an alliance with them at the cost of our identity or by keeping aside the issue of Person of Goan Origin (POGO), then we don’t want this politics,” Parab said on Tuesday in the presence of his party MLA Viresh Borkar.
Parab was responding to a statement made by Goa Kannada Sahitya Sangh President Siddhanna Meti, who had warned the RGP against targeting the Kannadigas in the coastal state.
RGP has been insisting that those whose parents were born before 1961 (when Goa was liberated from Portuguese rule) in the coastal state should be considered as Persons of Goan Origin and eligible for various government schemes and jobs.
Parab said the RGP does not want to forge a namesake alliance with Congress or Goa Forward Party. “If there is an alliance, then POGO will be the criteria. POGO is the priority. If there is no POGO, then Goans won’t exist,” he said.
The RGP chief stated that they will not have a political alliance if the POGO condition is not met. “This is a clear political message I want to give to all political parties. We have reached a saturation point now; Goans are suffocating,” he said.
“We will not compromise on our stand as far as the alliance is concerned. For us, defeating BJP is important, but at the same time, there cannot be a compromise on POGO,” he added.
