The MGP's merger with the Congress was discussed by senior Congress leader Sharad Pawar with party president Sonia Gandhi earlier this week though the move was opposed by Goa Pradesh Congress Committee President Luizinho Faleiro. ``Already there are many aspirants for Congress tickets in all the constituencies,'' Faliero had told mediapersons on Thursday.

Now, BJP leaders in the state are aggressively wooing MGP leaders. Says State BJP president Suresh Amonkar: ``Among all the political parties in the State, it is with the MGP that the BJP shares ideological similarities.''

He said leaders from several parties will join the BJP on May 15, whenits Parivartan Yatra concludes.

Former chief minister and MGP leader Shashikala Kakodkar has hinted that she could ally with the BJP. ``Many of our mutual friends have approached us for an BJP-MGP alliance... I am inclined towards it,'' Kakodkar told The Indian Express. She pointed out that the proposal to forge an alliance with the Congress had not gone down well with MGP's rank and file. ``At least in public, our leaders, including those behind the alliance proposal, have been calling the Congress our number one enemy,'' Kakodkar said.

Over the years, the MGP has suffered the loss of all its important leaders to the Congress. It also produced two Congress chief ministers -- Pratapsinh Rane and Ravi Naik -- and a host of junior ministers. In the 1994 Assembly, four MGP members of the Legislative Assembly defected to the Congress even before taking oath and thus propped up the Pratapsinh Rane Ministry.

In the last one year, Goa's other main regional party, the United Goans Democratic Partysuffered a severe blow when its founder, Churchill Alemao, defected to the Congress with his supporters. Even the rump Congress led by Wilfred D'Souza, the Goa Rajiv Congress, has seen several of its leaders returning `home'.

Under the circumstances, Goa is likely to see a two-cornered fight in several of its 40 Assembly segments.