Team Herald
MARGAO: In a day filled with political drama, Congress MLAS and party leaders rushed to a hotel in Margao as the party tried to do a lot of firefighting to save it from sinking further and prevent the speculated defection of majority of the MLAs into BJP.
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After the meeting Congress leaders held in Saturday evening in the North, a series of meetings were held in the South on Sunday morning, which went all till Sunday evening
Dinesh Gundu Rao, the Goa-desk in charge of the Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) arrived the hotel in the Margao on Sunday morning where he had one-on-one meetings with a majority of the Congress MLAs.
He also met Margao MLA, the senior legislator in the eye of the storm on Saturday night at Kamat’s residence.
The following MLAs met with Rao at various points of the day on Sunday: Quepem MLA Altone D’Costa, Nuvem MLA Aleixo Sequeira, Mormugao MLA Sankalp Amonkar, Cuncolim MLA Yuri Alemao, St Cruz MLA Rudolf Fernandes, Saligao MLA Kedar Naik, Cumbarjua MLA Rajesh Phaldesai, Aldona MLA Carlos Alvares Ferreira, and the Leader of Opposition, Calangute MLA Michael Lobo.
While all the MLAs downplayed the rumours of the split, which was speculated to take place on Sunday itself, only MLA Carlos said with so many rumours there has to be smoke behind the fire.
The hotel owned by Altone is based in Fatorda but there was high drama in Aquem after LoP Lobo, Amonkar rushed to meet Kamat at his bungalow.
GPCC President Amit Patkar and GPCC senior leader M K Sheikh also rushed to Kamat’s house in Aquem.
Two other MLAs Kedar Naik and Rajesh Phaldesai had also gone to Kamat’s residence.
While Kamat then left his residence and headed to Panjim as per sources, Patkar, Lobo, Amonkar and Sheikh returned to the hotel.
Later on Sunday mid evening, the entire Congress camp left the hotel. Only Lobo, Amonkar and Rudolf were the MLAs at the hotel at the time the full team left, while the other MLAs had left earlier in the day.
Before the team left though, former GPCC President Girish Chodankar recalled that the MLAs had taken an oath before God not to defect and had signed affidavits too. He alleged that the mining lobby, coal mafia and industrialists were pressuring MLAs to join the BJP and were being offered crores of rupees to do the same.
While Lobo and Patkar refused to speak to the media, Rao said the party would brief the media in Panjim later.
