AAP and Goa Forward Party close in on election alliance, leaving Congress sidelined

The Aam Aadmi Party and the Goa Forward Party are set to announce an electoral alliance for the upcoming Goa assembly elections, bypassing the Congress party to build a new opposition front.

Joint billboards featuring the logos of both parties popped up along Goa’s main highways on Saturday. The signs carry a blunt message for the state's voters: "Congress and BJP cheated you twice. Don’t let them cheat you the third time."

The public display comes as AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal flew into the coastal state, posting on social media that he was on his way to make a "very big announcement." Senior party officials from the Goa Forward Party (GFP) confirmed that a formal announcement of the partnership is scheduled for Sunday afternoon.

The emerging coalition, which sources close to the negotiations say will be called the "Goa First Alliance," represents a major realignment of the state's opposition. The GFP, a regional outfit led by Vijai Sardesai, contested the last state elections in 2022 alongside the Congress. That partnership was deeply disappointing, with the GFP winning just a single seat—Sardesai’s constituency of Fatorda. AAP, which ran alone, won two seats in South Goa.

Now, both regional players are moving ahead without the national opposition party. Leaders from both camps say they simply ran out of patience with the Congress.

A senior AAP leader, speaking to the Indian Express, said that while both parties originally wanted a broader coalition including the Congress, the larger party was dragging its feet. "The Congress is perhaps not going to have that alliance until, say, three weeks before the election," the leader said. "We cannot keep waiting."

The GFP is also carrying deep resentment over the Congress's recent history of political instability. In the last seven years, 18 Congress assembly members have defected to the ruling legislative group of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)—including eight who jumped ship shortly after the 2022 elections.

"The Congress has ‘supplied’ 18 MLAs to the BJP," a senior GFP leader told the Indian Express, arguing that these defections are what gave the BJP its stable grip on power. "If you want to give an alternative to the people, it cannot be those who will defect."

Despite the visible signs of a done deal, the state's Congress leadership is insisting that negotiations are not over. Goa Congress president Girish Chodankar told reporters that the GFP remains a formal ally from the 2022 campaign and claimed that high-level talks are still active. "The Goa Forward Party is in talks with Congress' central leadership," Chodankar said, adding that he had confirmed with his party's national bosses on Saturday morning that the discussions were ongoing.

But the GFP appears to have already made up its mind. Following an executive committee meeting on Saturday, the party released a statement declaring its intention to form a "United Alternative" before the upcoming Ganesh Chaturthi festival. The group said its focus would be on creating a front that "stands firmly against corruption, communalism and the politics of defection."

With the assembly elections due before March 2027, the new alliance aims to challenge the BJP's dominance. The BJP won 20 of the state's 40 seats in 2022, while the Congress has been reduced to just three legislators following successive waves of defections.