JD(U) to go solo in Goa polls, send its team to Panaji to select candidates

PATNA: With Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress making concentrated efforts to make a larger opposition alliance to challenge the BJP in Goa, Bihar’s ruling JD(U), an ally of the saffron party, has now decided to contest the ensuing assembly polls in the coastal state on its own, without forming an alliance with any political group.
JD(U) has also sent a two-member team of its senior leaders to Panaji, the capital of Goa, to finalise the number of seats the party wants to contest and select its prospective candidates.The JD(U)s two national general secretaries – Afaque Ahmad Khan and Harshvardhan Singh (both reached Panaji on Saturday evening), held a series of talks with the party’s state unit and the prospective candidates, even from other regional parties, on Sunday to finalise the names of its candidates for Goa assembly polls, sources in the party said.
JD(U) had earlier announced to contest the assembly polls only in Uttar Pradesh and Manipur, out of the five states going to polling in February and March this year. But the party has now, all of a sudden, decided to contest the ensuing assembly polls in Goa.
Contacted over phone, Khan admitted that he was camping in Goa and he had gone there to assess the election scenario in the wake of the JD(U)’s central leadership’s decision to contest the assembly polls in the coastal state. To a question, Khan also said the JD(U) would not form alliance with any political group and go solo in the Goa polls.
Goa, which has a total of 40 assembly constituencies, will vote in a single-phase on February 14.
According to the poll schedule announced by the Election Commission, the notification for assembly polls in the coastal state will be issued on January 21, while the last date to file nominations is January 28. Scrutiny of nominations will be held on January 29, with January 31 being the last date to withdraw candidature. Counting of votes will be held on March 10, along with other four states.
JD(U) will contest assembly polls In Uttar Pradesh in alliance with the BJP, while it will go solo in Manipur.