Major jolt to Congress as 8 MLAs from Goa set to join BJP

Panaji, September 14: Goa BJP chief Sadanand Shet Tanavade on Wednesday said eight Congress MLAs from the state were all set to join the BJP. In the 40-member Goa Assembly, there are 11 MLAs from Congress and 20 from BJP.

Prior to the joining of the BJP, eight Congress MLAs, including former Goa Chief Minister Digambar Kamat and Leader of the Opposition Michael Lobo, met Chief Minister Pramod Sawant at the Assembly Complex. Also Read | Punjab: 3 of family die as tractor-trailer overturns on car in Jalandhar; watch video

The eight MLAs are Digambar Kamat, Michael Lobo, Delilah Lobo, Rajesh Phaldesai, Kedar Naik, Sankalp Amonkar, Aleixo Sequeira and Rudolf Fernandes. Although after a meeting with Congress Legislature Party, Lobo said they would join the saffron party, there was no official confirmation from Sawant yet. It comes amid Congress leader Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Yatra, which is being held to combat the BJP-led Centre and awaken the country's people to the dangers of economic inequalities, social polarisation, and political centralisation. On September 4, Gujarat Youth Congress President Vishwanathsinh Vaghela had resigned from his post, which is a major jolt for the party. On September 2, party leader Rajinder Prasad, who is also the son of late Master Beli Ram Sharma from Nowshera, Rajouri, resigned from all posts and the primary membership of the party. Prasad blamed the 'coterie' system for being a reason for the 'demise' of the party. In recent months, several high-profile leaders have quit the Congress. The exit of veteran leader Ghulam Nabi Azad from the Congress, months before the upcoming Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh Assembly polls, as well as the General Election in two years' time, dealt a huge blow to the party. Also Read | Bigg Boss 16: List of contestants set to entertain you in this season Jaiveer Shergill, who is a lawyer by profession and was one of the prominent ones among young Congress leaders, on August 24, tendered his resignation claiming that the vision of the decision-makers no longer was in sync with the aspirations of the youth. In May, senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal, a prominent face of the G-23 group of dissenting leaders, resigned from the party and filed nomination papers for the Rajya Sabha elections as an independent candidate backed by the Samajwadi Party (SP). Sunil Jakhar too parted ways with the Congress in May this year. Former Union Law Minister Ashwani Kumar in February also resigned from the Congress after a long association of 46 years with the party. Back in May, Gujarat Patidar leader Hardik Patel had quit the party after he felt that he was being "ignored". Source: ANI/Edited by PTC Desk