Ten out of 11 MLAs of the Goa Congress in the 40-member Assembly on Monday night attended a meeting chaired by senior party leader Mukul Wasnik amid concerns of defections, PTI reported.
Congress leader Michael Lobo, who was dismissed as the Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly earlier in the day, was also present. Former Goa Chief Minister Digambar Kamat did not attend the meeting.
The Congress had alleged that Lobo and Kamat were conspiring to engineer defections in “total coordination” with the Bharatiya Janata Party. The party had said that Kamat would be investigated for “anti-party activities”.
Both, Lobo and Kamat, had refuted the allegations saying that they were still with the Congress.
The Congress had said also that along with Lobo and Kamat, three other MLAs – Kedar Naik, Rajesh Faldesai and Delialah Lobo – were unreachable by phone.
The Bharatiya Janata Party rules Goa and has the support of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party and three Independents. The Congress, along with its ally Goa Forward Party, is the main Opposition in the state.
The BJP has 20 Assembly seats, the Congress has 11, the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party and Aam Aadmi Party have two each, and the Goa Forward Party and the Revolutionary Goans Party have one seat each. The three remaining constituencies have Independent MLAs.
After all its MLAs, except Kamat, attended the meeting called by the party, Wasnik claimed that some people with “bad intentions” were trying to create a rift in the Goa Congress but the legislators scuttled it by showing they are united, according to PTI.
He said that during the meeting, the MLAs discussed how to work aggressively in the House and strengthen the party in the state.
Wasnik was rushed to Goa from Delhi by Congress President Sonia Gandhi to “oversee the latest political developments” in the state on Monday.
Lobo said there was a “misunderstanding” by the party as he could not attend the press conference called on Sunday.
“All the Congress MLAs are with the party,” he said, according to the news agency. “ “I had told them that I did not want to continue as the Leader of Opposition because I would not be able to do justice to the post.”
He added that either Kamat or Sankalp Amonkar could be elected in his place.
Meanwhile, BJP leader and Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Tuesday said that his party has nothing to do with the rebellion within the Congress.
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