Times News NetworkMargao: In a significant step towards opposition unity ahead of the 2027 assembly polls, Congress and Goa Forward Party (GFP)—until recently seen as being at loggerheads—broke the ice on Saturday, with the two party presidents holding talks on forging a common front against BJP.State Congress president Girish Chodankar and GFP president Vijai Sardesai met and held wide-ranging discussions on the political situation in the state under the Pramod Sawant-led BJP govt, even as both leaders described the meeting as cordial and constructive.After the meeting, Chodankar said the two sides had exchanged views on the challenges facing Goa and discussed the need to strengthen the alliance in the state’s larger interest. He said formal talks would follow soon to build greater consensus.Chodankar stressed that any alliance would have to be anchored in discipline, mutual respect, and what he called “alliance dharma”, along with a willingness among partners to make sacrifices for a common cause. The objective, he said, was to unite the opposition and defeat what he termed a “corrupt, scam-ridden” BJP govt, replacing it with a transparent and people-centric alternative.Sardesai said the meeting fulfilled his commitment to initiating talks with Congress to build a united alternative to BJP. He described Saturday’s discussion as the “first concrete step towards opposition unity”, adding that the roadmap for the alliance would be shared transparently, with Goa’s interests placed above all else.The Congress-GFP outreach comes exactly a month after Aam Aadmi Party’s own alliance overtures towards Congress. On July 1, AAP had named a three-member team—state president Valmiki Naik, working president Gerson Gomes, and organisational secretary Prashant Naik—to negotiate an alliance on its behalf, marking a sharp shift from its earlier go-it-alone approach that had cost it dearly in the Dec 2025 zilla panchayat polls.
