11 Jul 2022  |   07:53am IST

Defection storm hits Congress, Tsunami of resignations not ruled out

Congress on the brink of a major split as 5 MLAs ready to quit; Party confirms the rift, sacks Michael Lobo as Leader of Opposition, and lashes out at senior leader Digambar Kamat
Defection storm hits Congress, Tsunami of resignations not ruled out

Team Herald

PANJIM: Political storm hit hard the grand old Congress party with five party MLAs raising a banner of revolt and the party stripping Michael Lobo as Leader of the Opposition with immediate effect on Sunday.

The political developments happened on the eve of the Monsoon Session of the Goa Legislative Assembly starting on Monday and despite AICC in charge Dinesh Gundu Rao holding marathon meetings of its MLAs to ensure their allegiance to the party, he could keep the MLAs together.

The rift within the Congress party surfaced on Saturday when one faction of leaders led by Lobo held a meeting of the MLAs while Kamat preferred to stay out.

Since Sunday morning, speculations were rife that a group of Congress MLAs might split to join hands with the BJP and amidst the political drama, Speaker Ramesh Tawadkar’s decision to withdraw notification for elections to the post of Deputy Speaker slated on July 12, ascertained the move.

Sources said that the ruling BJP was trying to woo as many as eight Congress legislators so as to avoid their disqualification. The AICC in-charge anticipating defection in the already troubled party had been camping in Goa for the last few days trying to keep its flock intact. He had met 10 of the 11 party MLAs.

Leader of the Opposition Michael Lobo and MLAs Digambar Kamat, Rajesh Phaldesai, Kedar Naik, and Delilah Lobo are believed to have decided to resign late evening after two days of speculations.   

Digambar Kamat told Herald early on Sunday morning, “I told Dinesh Gundu Rao that I am a retired hurt player. I’m hurt and humiliated by the party even though I was loyal throughout when everyone left the party. After I recover from my injuries, I’ll decide how I will play.”

Of the 11 Congress MLAs, Sankalp Amonkar, Carlos Alvares Ferreira, Rudolf Fernandes, Yuri Alemao, and Altone D’Costa attended a press conference addressed by Dinesh Rao and claimed that they were with the party. Veteran Congressman Aleixo Sequeira also claimed that he was with the party. 

Rao charged that Lobo was a traitor and backstabbed the Congress party by engineering the defection of Congress MLAs.  Both Lobo and Kamat hatched a conspiracy, he said adding that the Congress party will take stern action against them.

 When everything looked smooth after a day-long drama that unfolded following the bid by some MLAs to switch sides to the BJP at Margao, they decided to address the media in Panjim in the evening. But on reaching Panjim, Lobo showed an inclination to shift to BJP and refused to accompany Rao for the press conference making an abrupt U-turn when he not only refused to enter the Congress House but also drove to the Chief Minister’s official residence at Altinho.

Two other MLAs Rajesh Faldessai and Kedar Naik held an impromptu meeting with the Chief Minister, leaving their party high command dumbstruck.

The legislators, sources said, were urged during the closed-door meetings on Sunday to stick to their ‘anti-defection pledge’ taken ahead of the 2022 Assembly elections. 

After failing to get the numbers, the disgruntled MLAs held on to their decision to leave the party and even resign as MLAs. But till night they had not submitted their resignation letters to the Speaker.

IDhar UDHAR

Idhar Udhar