CALANGUTE: Michael Lobo, the high-profile inductee into the Congress from the BJP, whose entry gave the Congress a boost in Bardez is dispelling rumours of any rift within the Congress.
With political whispers in the air about Lobo being a part of BJP’s post-poll fishing expedition, Lobo said “These are not true. I want to tell all the Goans. No MLA will defect. We will give a stable government. By 5pm (on March 10) we will stake claim to form the next government.”
Speaking at a joint Congress media briefing with other leaders, Lobo said, “Do not go by what you get on WhatsApp or Facebook. These are rumours. There will be no split in the Congress. By 3pm results will be out and by 5pm we will be in Raj Bhavan to stake claim.”
However, as Lobo and others exuded confidence, purported information of behind the scenes parleys kept floating in. For instance, one information chunk is the recent visit of Lobo to the Tadoba Tiger Reserve in Maharashtra. It can be assumed that he didn’t go there for wildlife spotting and it’s not clear if he spotted any tigers there. But his companion, a Goa BJP leader, is a wildlife lover. The talks, however, are likely to have centered around the political jungle. The other rumour is that he met Amit Shah for 20 odd minutes in Delhi.
But since Lobo has said that reports of this nature are rumours, we shall leave it at that.