Politics

Amid ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ trouble brew in for Goa Congress; 8 MLA’s including former CM to join BJP

The Congress had removed Lobo as Leader of Opposition alleging he was one who hatched a conspiracy, along with Kamat, by hobnobbing the BJP

PGurus Newsdesk

September 14, 2022

The Congress had removed Lobo as Leader of Opposition alleging he was one who hatched a conspiracy, along with Kamat, by hobnobbing the BJP

Congress will now be left with only 3 MLAs in Goa

It seems the trouble for Congress is increasing by the day and shows no sign of relief to the oldest party in India. On Wednesday, a Congress leader in Goa confirmed that eight party MLAs have passed a resolution to switch to the state’s ruling BJP.

Congress had 11 MLAs in the 40-member Goa Assembly, while the strength of the BJP has now increased to 28. With the MLAs leaving Congress, it is now left with only 3 MLAs on their side.

Party MLA and Deputy Leader of the Congress Legislative Party, Sankalp Amonkar said: “Yes we are merging with the BJP, a resolution in this regard has been taken.” Besides Amonkar, the seven others are former Chief Minister Digambar Kamat, Michael Lobo, Delilah Lobo, Kedar Naik, Rajesh Faldesai, Aleixo Sequeira and Rudolf Fernandes.

Sources said that following a meeting, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant met the eight MLAs in the Assembly complex, after which they carried out further formalities to switch.

During Ganesh Chaturthi, these MLAs had again tried to join BJP, but they couldn’t manage numbers. On July 10, 2019, during the last term of the BJP government, 10 MLAs of Congress along with Leader of Opposition Chandrakant Kavalekar switched to the BJP.

On July 10, the Congress had removed Lobo as the Leader of Opposition alleging he was one who hatched a conspiracy, along with Kamat, by hobnobbing with the BJP to split Congress MLAs. It was their first attempt to join the BJP, however, it was foiled after the early intervention of senior party leaders.

A Congress ally, Goa Forward Party chief Vijai Sardesai reacted with scorn, saying the defecting MLAs are “symbols of pure evil” who are pursuing “greed for wealth and hunger for power… in defiance of Almighty God”.

[With Inputs from IANS]

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