8 Goa Congress MLAs might join administering BJP today: Sources

 

Congress MLAs met Chief Minister and Speaker of the Assembly; Given their numbers, they can avoid disqualification under the anti-defection law.

Panaji:

Barely two months after the Congress averted a defection attempt, eight of its 11 MLAs, led by top leaders Digambar Kamat and Michael Lobo, will join the ruling BJP later today, sources said. Apart from Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, he also met the Speaker of the Assembly.

Assuming that the eight administrators split collectively - 66% of the party's solidarity, that is - they can keep away from exclusion under the counter absconding regulation.

This morning, the meeting of MLAs with the Speaker has fueled speculation as the Assembly is not in session. State BJP chief Sadanand Shet Tanawade then told news agency PTI that he was joining the party.

Digambar Kamat and Michael Lobo were also at the center of switchover speculation in July, and Congress even asked the speaker to disqualify them under the anti-defection law.

At the time, Mr Kamat, the former chief minister, had said he was "shocked and shocked" at the allegations of leading a split. Even Michael Lobo, who was removed from the post of Leader of the Opposition by Congress, claimed that "there was no talk of any division". Mr. Lobo was in the BJP before joining the Congress earlier this year, just ahead of the elections.

The Congress was sung in a similar fashion in 2019, when two-thirds of its assembly strength - 10 of the 15 MLAs - joined the BJP, which is why this year the party administered the oath of allegiance to its candidates.



Still, the latest defection was not entirely unexpected, even though the Congress managed to retain at least seven of its MLAs in July. Apart from Mr. Lobo and Mr. Kamat - no final steps were taken by four others including Kedar Naik and Mr. Lobo's wife Delilah Lobo.

Senior leader Mukul Wasnik was deputed by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi to tackle the crisis, and he seems to have stopped it.

Or not at all, according to what is happening now.

The latest reports of defection come as Congress is conducting Bharat Jodi Yatra (Unite India March) led by Rahul Gandhi, while the BJP is joking: "Unite your party first."

Comments In the Goa Legislative Assembly, the BJP already has a majority of 25 in the House of 40 - 20 of its own MLAs, as well as two from the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party and three independents. With the Congress coming to eight, this number will increase to 33. Congress is left with three MLAs, AAP has two MLAs and Revolutionary Goa Party has one.