Panaji: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday announced a pre-poll alliance with the Vijai Sardesai-led Goa Forward Party (GFP) ahead of the upcoming 2027 Goa Assembly elections. Named ‘Goa First’, the new political front is being pitched as a strong, credible alternative to both the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the opposition Congress.
Addressing a joint press conference in the coastal state on the occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi, the former Delhi Chief Minister stated that the alliance was formed out of pure necessity. He accused the Congress and the BJP of operating with a tacit understanding to repeatedly deceive the state’s voters.
“This alliance became necessary because the people of Goa have been observing the political situation for years and have realised that they have had no real choice,” Kejriwal said. He highlighted the political events following the 2017 and 2022 assembly elections, where citizens heavily voted for the Congress to oust the BJP, only to watch Congress legislators defect in large numbers to help the BJP retain power.
“The people of Goa have been cheated twice. They won’t be cheated a third time,” Kejriwal remarked. He alleged that more than half of the current BJP government in the state consists of former Congress leaders. “Today, for the first time, a strong alternative has emerged in the form of ‘Goa First’, a non-BJP and non-Congress alliance,” he added.
Goa Forward Party chief Vijai Sardesai echoed these sentiments, pointing out that the state has unfortunately earned a bad reputation nationwide due to rampant political defections. Sardesai called the newly formed front an alternative to an ideology-less government made up entirely of defectors. “The loyal Congress voter and the loyal BJP voter have been cheated. We do not want the people of Goa to be cheated for a third time,” Sardesai stated.
Addressing potential voter concerns about his own party members jumping ship, Kejriwal defended AAP’s track record. He asserted that AAP’s elected MLAs have remained fiercely loyal to their voters across Delhi, Punjab, Gujarat, and Goa despite facing intense political pressure.
Presently, Goa is governed by the BJP under the leadership of Chief Minister Pramod Sawant. In the 2022 legislative assembly elections, AAP secured two seats with a 6.77% vote share, while the GFP won a single seat with a 1.78% vote share. The ‘Goa First’ alliance now aims to consolidate the anti-incumbency vote and prevent the fracturing of the opposition ahead of the 2027 electoral battle.