Vijay Sardesai served as the deputy chief minister in the last BJP government. (File)

New Delhi:

West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress Chief Mamata Banerjee will meet the President of Goa Forward Party today. The Vijay Sardesai-led party, is looking to tie up with a major party ahead of next year’s assembly elections.

Mr Sardesai on Friday said that he has been rooting for a strong team. In April this year, the Goa Forward party had quit the BJP claiming that they were anti-social.

“Opposition unity is critical to end this corrupt & communal regime. Let’s get serious about 2022. I’ll call on Mamata Banerjee with my senior party colleagues tomorrow @ 10 AM on her invitation,” said Mr Sardesai.

Mr Sardesai, whose party has three MLAs in the assembly, is a key player in Goa. He served as the deputy chief minister in the last BJP government.

Ms Banerjee is on a Goa visit as her party seeks to branch out into new states, after having fortified the TMC’s position on her home turf in the assembly polls.

Congress was the first party that the GFP tried to ally with. After Congress did not take them onboard, the party approached Trinamool Congress.

The elections to the 40-member Goa assembly are slated to be held early next year.

The Congress had won the highest 17 seats in the 40-member House in the 2017 Goa Assembly elections, restricting the main opponent BJP to 13. But the saffron party moved to ally with regional parties and came to power under the leadership of Manohar Parrikar.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)