Goa Forward Party MLA and former Deputy CM of Goa Vijai Sardesai will meet Mamata Banerjee today. He will meet her along with other party members. This is very important as Vijai Sardesai was earlier with the Congress. In 2012, he was out of Congress after being denied a ticket. After breaking away from Congress, he formed Goa Forward Party and his party fought on 4 seats and won 3. He had supported Manohar Parrikar but when Pramod Sawant was made the CM, he parted ways with the BJP government. He has called for a united opposition against the BJP.
There are a total of 40 seats in the Goa Legislative Assembly. In the 2017 elections, Congress got 17, BJP 13, others 10. Despite being more in numbers, the Congress had failed to form the government. With the support of other parties, the government was formed in the BJP under the leadership of Manohar Parrikar, in which Vijay Sardesai joined. But after the death of Manohar Parrikar, when the BJP gave command to Pramod Sawant, then the distance between Vijay Sardesai increased from the BJP and he separated from the government. Vijay Sardesai was earlier associated with the Congress.
In the 2012 elections, when he was denied the Fatorda seat by the party, he formed the Goa Forward Party and he also got the benefit. Now that Vijay Sardesai is neither associated with Congress nor BJP, TMC feels that through Sardesai, it can make inroads in Goa.
In Goa on Friday, Mamata Banerjee had said that she has come here to maintain relations with Bengal, she is not dreaming of coming here and becoming CM. Apart from this, she also said that she wants to make Goa a strong state like Bengal. The grandeur of the center will not work. Secularism is a mantra for them and there is a belief that every person living in the country is equally entitled to get government facilities.