Can Congress topple Goa govt? 'Anything is possible', says party leader

Panaji, April 4

A month after being convincingly beaten by the BJP in the Goa Assembly polls, state Congress Working President Yuri Alemao on Monday did not rule out the opposition party making a bid for power.

"In Goa, everything is possible. Things have happened in the past, you are well aware of what has happened in the past. We are definitely sure that things will happen," Alemao told reporters at the assembly complex.

Last week, opposition leader Michael Lobo had claimed that the Congress would be in a position to stake claim to power within "10 to 15 months".

Goa has witnessed several periods of political instability beginning from the 1990s, with the state seing 13 Chief Ministers in the decade from 1990 to 2000.

The Congress has only 11 MLAs in the 40-member state assembly, while the BJP has 20 MLAs and the support of five other non-BJP MLAs.

Alemao also said that the BJP had managed to win the Assembly polls on account of a split in votes in the opposition camp, adding that there was a need to bring the opposition together.

"We need to chalk out a strategy about where we failed and how we improve. Focus will be on the membership drive and how to unify the opposition," he said.

"66 percent of the people voted against the government. We will definitely see in this space how to work. There was a definite split. Numbers are with them based on the split," he also said.