MGP, Independents may hold key to government formation in Goa

The exit polls had predicted a fractured mandate in the State

With exit polls yet again predicting a fractured mandate for Goa on counting day on March 10, independent candidates and regional parties like the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) are likely to hold the key to government formation.

From confident claims of being able to secure the magic figure of 21 (of the 40 Assembly seats in Goa) on their own, the two biggest players in the poll fray - the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress – have now toned down their pre-poll rhetoric to begin hectic parleying with the smaller parties.

Sources within the Goa Congress leadership have said that the party was exploring post-poll alliance talks with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and its Goa ally, the MGP, with both Congress election in-charge P. Chidambaram and party desk in-charge Dinesh Gundu Rao expressing the party’s willingness to work with non-BJP parties in the post-poll scenario.

Meanwhile, Goa Chief Minister and BJP leader Pramod Sawant, who flew to Delhi on Monday, met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi today to discuss post-poll scenarios and government formation in the coastal state.

“We [the BJP] are fully confident of getting a majority. Even if we get a few seats less, we can form a government with the support of independent candidates,” said Mr. Sawant, whose party had given the slogan of winning ‘22 plus seats’ in the 2022 election in the run-up to the polls.

Following the meeting with the Prime Minister a little after noon, Mr. Sawant said on Twitter: “Briefed the PM about BJP’s strong performance in Goa Assembly Polls 2022 which will provide us the opportunity to form the government in the State once again with people’s blessings.”

According to analysts, with exit polls predicting a neck-to-neck fight between the BJP and the Congress, the loyalties of key independent players like ex-Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar, the stalwart BJP leader who rebelled against the party when denied a ticket from Mandrem, Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco, the ex- Congress MLA from Curtorim, and Savitri Kavlekar, the wife of BJP leader and Deputy Chief Minister Chandrakant Kavlekar, will play an important role in deciding the question of government formation.