PanajiOctober 11, 2025 07:00 AM IST
First published on: Oct 11, 2025 at 07:00 AM IST
Rajesh Kalangutkar, who quit the Aam Aadmi Party as the Goa unit’s working president on Wednesday – days after party chief Arvind Kejriwal visited the state – has said he took the decision because he differs with the party leadership on allying with the Congress.
Kalangutkar, who shared the stage with Kejriwal during an event in Goa, said it has become “painfully obvious” that AAP’s role in the state was to “split the anti-BJP vote”.
During his visit to Goa earlier this week, AAP convener and former Delhi chief minister Kejriwal ruled out an alliance with the Congress, saying the party cannot be trusted. Speaking at the inauguration of a party office in North Goa’s Maem Assembly constituency last Saturday, Kejriwal alleged a nexus between the BJP and Congress, claiming both were working closely together and that a few families have a “vice-like grip on the politics” of Goa.
In his resignation letter addressed to Kejriwal, Kalangutkar said that he could not continue to be in a party that “places Delhi’s political ambitions above Goa’s people”. “When I met you during your recent visit to Goa, we appealed for Opposition unity, because Goa’s future depends on defeating the BJP’s corrupt and divisive politics. Sadly, your unwillingness to cooperate made it clear that AAP is not interested in unity; it is only interested in helping the BJP by splitting votes and fragmenting the Opposition space,” the letter said.
Kalangutkar said he urged the party leaders to put Goa first and to “rise above petty political calculations”. However, after a volunteer meeting on Saturday, the party unit was informed that there will be no alliance with Congress “at any cost”, he said.
“In the 2022 polls, the BJP came to power due to a split in votes among the Opposition parties. In Goa, the feeling among the people is that there should be an alliance between all the Opposition parties… to fight against the BJP. Since they (the party leadership) believe that they lost in Delhi because of Congress… there will be no alliance. Their reasoning is that the Congress MLAs, after getting elected, will defect to BJP… like in the past. They are not interested in the feelings of the people of Goa. They are more interested in their egos or competition with the Congress in other parts of the country,” he told The Indian Express.
“People in Goa are not happy with the BJP. There is a growing public sentiment that the Opposition parties must rise above their differences and unite to rid the state of the BJP’s corruption, communalism and authoritarian rule… the mood is that people want change. I wanted the alliance. It’s not just the Congress, there are other parties like RGP, Goa Forward Party,” he said.
Kalangutkar joined the AAP ahead of the assembly elections in the state in 2022 and contested from the Maem constituency, losing to BJP’s Premendra Shet.
AAP Goa president Amit Palekar said Kalangutkar mentioned the issue of alliance with Congress as the main reason for his resignation. In a statement, Palekar said, “Our clear and strong stand against an alliance with Congress has stemmed from the fact that there is no answer to the simple question – who will guarantee to the people of Goa that Congress MLAs will not jump to BJP once again?”
Palekar added, “AAP will build an alliance directly with the people of Goa who have suffered from defections and misgovernance for far too long. Since the alliance with the Congress party, which is desired by Rajesh Kalangutkar, will only lead to the formation of a BJP government in Goa, the party cannot come to an agreement with him. AAP has therefore accepted his resignation.”