The Goa Forward Party formally exited the National Democratic Alliance on Tuesday-- one and a half year after it withdrew support from the Pramod Sawant led BJP government, following the sacking of its ministers—and alleged that the ruling party was no longer the same after former chief minister and defence minister Manohar Parrikar’s death. It wrote a letter to Amit Shah announcing “the termination of our participation in the NDA.”

“Under the late Manohar Parrikar, the BJP used to be a party with a difference, and under Pramod Sawant it is a different party—an anti-Goan party,” party supremo Vijai Sardesai said in his letter to Union home minister Amit Shah.

“During the peak of the Pandemic, the nation saw how little the BJP government in Goa cared and how incompetent it was in tackling the rising cases, consistently flouting all norms and protocols under the illusion of generating income.’ In just two years, the NDA has miserably failed the people of Goa, under the leadership of the BJP,” Sardesai said, and added, “The GFP is out of the NDA forever, and we will never look back.”

GFP was part of the Parrikar government between March 2017 and July 2019 and was dumped after 10 Congress MLAs switched sides to the BJP. Out in the cold since then, it is now looking to join hands with the Congress in the state. However, the party’s continuation in the NDA was cited as a sticking point within a faction in the Congress.

Sardesai’s Goa Forward Party, formed before the 2017 general assembly elections, fought the then BJP government, winning two of its three seats against sitting BJP ministers. However, after the election, it made an about-turn and pledged support to the BJP, keeping the single-largest party, the Congress away from power. In return, Sardesai and two other party MLAs were made ministers in the Manohar Parrikar government and continued to enjoy their position even when Pramod Sawant took over as the CM after Parrikar’s death in March 2019. However, they were dropped three months later in July 2019 after 10 MLAs of the Congress en masse switched to the BJP. Sardesai soon withdrew support from the Sawant-led government but stayed in the NDA.

“Since July 2019, the state leadership of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Goa has turned its back on the people of Goa who looked ahead with hope to the prospect of all-around development of our beloved state. The unfortunate demise of Manohar Parrikar brought Goa to despair, while ushering in a period of rampant corruption and dishonesty with the elevation of Shri Pramod Sawant as the 13th Chief Minister of Goa,” said Sardesai.

“The NDA remains an umbrella for all like minded parties led by the BJP and remains strong as ever. It is their decision if they want to quit the NDA and we have nothing to say,” Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson and former Parliamentarian Narendra Sawaikar said.

Despite Sardesai now angling for an alliance with the Congress ahead of the upcoming polls, a faction in the Congress is said to be dead against such an alliance, still peeved at the ‘betrayal’. The party was guarded in its official reaction to the developments.

“The dynamics of politics is changing. People in future will prefer only those with integrity, commitment and loyalty to a particular cause or ideology. The days of turncoats and party hoppers are long over which has hurt Goa very badly,” state president Girish Chodankar said.

“The Congress party is building up our grassroots organisation & we will surely win the trust of the people,” he added.

An independent political observer, Mayabhushan Nagvenkar, who co-authored a book on Manohar Parrikar, said Sardesai’s party’s exit from the NDA ahead of a municipal poll only goes to show how desperate the regional party was to salvage its reputation in a municipal poll by aligning with Congress-sponsored candidates.

“In Goa’s notoriously fluid politics, the NDA label which the Goa Forward formally sported until now, was only a foot in the door which had closed on the party in 2019. Vijai Sardesai harboured some hope of manoeuvring his way back into the treasury benches by lobbying with other opposition and ruling politicians and members of the late Manohar Parrikar’s coterie, who were collectively looking to oust Sawant. That move proved to be a dud,” Nagvenkar added.

(With inputs from agencies)