Team Goemkarponn
PANAJI: Revolutionary Goans Party (RGP) President Manoj Parab on Wednesday launched a scathing attack on Congress and Goa Forward leaders, alleging that a coordinated attempt was made to sabotage the Zilla Panchayat (ZP) poll alliance and weaken the RGP.
Parab said that AICC observer Manikrao Thakre arrived in Goa “completely unaware” that sitting Congress members from Santa Cruz intended to contest again. “Our alliance wasn’t broken by us; Vijai Sardesai broke it,” he asserted, adding that the “Bhatkars Vijai Sardesai and Amit Patkar cannot run our Bahujan Samaj RGP.”
Parab accused Congress president Amit Patkar and Goa Forward chief Vijai Sardesai of acting at the behest of the BJP in a “masterplan” aimed at destroying the RGP. “This was a deliberate attempt to finish our party,” he alleged.
Countering Sardesai’s claim that RGP was never serious about an alliance, Parab said the party had even given up a major seat for the Congress during alliance talks. “If this does not show our intent, nothing will. Vijai Sardesai has no right to say we didn’t want an alliance,” he stated.
Parab praised Congress leaders Altone D’Costa and Yuri Alemao for “genuinely putting in efforts” to make the alliance work, while accusing Sardesai of trying to use the RGP for his own political goals. “He told me, ‘let us get together and get Congress on its feet.’ He was trying to use the RGP to defeat the Congress,” Parab claimed.
The RGP chief maintained that his party remains committed to alliance politics when done in good faith, but will continue to expose any attempts to undermine the Bahujan-led political movement in Goa.
