Team Herald
PANJIM: Goa Assembly Speaker Ramesh Tawadkar on Friday granted two MLAs, Digambar Kamat and Michael Lobo, 30 days time to file their replies to the disqualification petition filed against them.
The Goa Assembly had on December 7, issued notices to Kamat and Lobo over the disqualification plea.
It was first hearing and the respective counsels of Kamat and Lobo told the Speaker that they were not given the contents of the petition and sought 30 days time to file their replies.
Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) President Amit Patkar had filed disqualification petition against Kamat and Lobo in July this year for voluntarily giving up Congress Party’s membership which amounts to anti-party activities and for trying to engineer defection in the opposition camp by hobnobbing with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Patkar had acknowledged that there was a vertical split among its MLAS but said Kamat and Lobo could not muster the required numbers.
The Congress had also removed Lobo as Leader of the Opposition and the All India Congress Committee (AICC) had removed Kamat as permanent invitee of Congress Working Committee (CWC).
However, both – Kamat and Lobo had maintained that they were still very much with the Congress.
In July 2022, Congress had managed to block the defections such that the MLA could not get the required number of MLAs to avoid the Anti-Defection Law.
On September 14, this year, eight Congress MLAs out of 11 joined the BJP including Kamat and Lobo.
