The Congress in Goa, which is struggling to overcome the crisis following a revolt from its senior leader Churchill Alemao on Saturday over denial of party ticket to his daughter Valanka Alemao, on Sunday received a boost when the Nationalist Congress Party(NCP) formally agreed to continue the 12 -year-old Congress-NCP alliance in Goa.
Ahead of a joint press conference organised in the city to announce this decision of the two parties, NCP vice president, Goa and chief spokesperson Trajano D'Mello told The Hindu that the NCP has agreed to work for both the candidates of Congress, Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco in south Goa and Ravi Naik in north Goa.
He said that considering the sentiments of the people, NCP State unit presented to the national leadership of the party the factual position that challenging Congress at this juncture would divide secular votes and indirectly it would help BJP in the parliamentary elections.
The Congress-NCP alliance had virtually broken after Congress declined to give the north Goa seat to the NCP, compelling the latter to announce that it will contest both seats.
Sources in the Congress-NCP, however, indicated that it is an understanding between the national leadership of the NCP-Congress over Uttara Kannada seat to Prashanth Deshpande, son of Karnataka Education Minister R. V. Deshpande and son-in-law of NCP's Prafulla Patel, that eventually helped Congress in Goa to cement a Congress-NCP alliance, which was on the verge of collapse.
