Early trends of Goa Election results are out. BJP is emerging as a party with the most legitimacy, but the people of the state are in for a hung assembly due to political opportunism.
When elections were announced for Goa, experts had speculated that Goa elections will be fought in a politically transparent manner. But idealism rarely works in politics.
National and state parties locking horns
Two types of political parties have locked horns for people’s support in Goa. The first category includes parties like BJP and Congress which are widely experienced in national politics. The other categories include regional parties like TMC, Goa Forward Party (GFP), NCP, Shiv Sena, Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) and AAP.
Amongst national parties, BJP does have a substantive base in Goa, but amongst state-level parties, only GFP and MGP have support from locals. All others had to do political manoeuvring to increase their chances.
Read more: Why BJP will win Goa, but AAP will replace Congress as the opposition
Political manoeuvring in Goa
This led to the opportunism of the highest level. The parties ran in to align with their ideological rivals in quest of power. MGP which is widely believed to be a pro-Hindu party decided to align with TMC which has been infamous for promoting Islam in West Bengal.
Similarly, Shiv Sena went on to align with NCP. On the other hand, GFP went with sinking Congress for seeking dominance.
Aaya Ram, Gaya Ram
Moreover, the transfer of politicians from one party to another in the wake of assembly elections also reeks of political opportunism. AAP proved to be the biggest benefactor of the Aaya Ram, Gaya Ram phenomenon.
AAP and Congress, in fact, resorted to signing loyalty bond papers from their respective members to retain them.
Read more: “Swear you won’t leave us” AAP and Congress’ strategy to keep their parties intact in Goa
Goans vote for loyalty
By the end of their campaigns, parties had started to realise that people are fed up with all these. This is the reason why as soon as exit poll results were out, parties like Congress, AAP, NCP and TMC started to chalk out a plan in case of a possible hung assembly.
Goa has faced this before. During the last state election, Congress looked all set to form a government by the afternoon of the day of election results. But a last-minute push by Nitin Gadkari changed the equations and BJP came to power in the state.
Through similar moves, BJP looks all set to serve the Goans for another 5 years and as chief minister, Pramod Sawant is confident to do so. Three independent MLAs as well as MGP is expected to support the saffron party.