the goan I network
PANAJI
Reeling under a crisis nationally after a poor show in successive general elections, the Goa unit of the Congress party finds itself in a vulnerable situation and wary of its main rival, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s MLA-shopping alacrity.
Opposition Leader, Chandrakant Kavlekar, vehemently denied claims of BJP leaders that two more legislators are ready to jump ship.
“These are rumours. There is no possibility of any of our 15 MLAs switching sides now,” Kavlekar told The Goan, when asked to comment on reports that two Congress MLAs were on the ruling party’s radar.
The Opposition Leader however claimed that the party leadership is wary of the fact that the BJP will do all in its might, now that they are entrenched in power at the Centre and also in the State, to target Congress MLAs and engineer defections.
“Yes, the conduct of the BJP is there for everyone to see but we will fight each and every one of their attacks,” Kavlekar said, while pointing out that in neighbouring Maharashtra too the saffron party was actively poaching Congress heavyweights.
On Tuesday, Radhakrsihan Vikhe-Patil, who was the Congress leader in the Maharashtra Assembly until he quit protesting denial of a Lok Sabha ticket to his son, formally quit the party and is likely to join the BJP. Another Muslim Congress leader Abdul Sattar also quit the party along with Vikhe Patil.
Kavlekar meanwhile said there currently there was no question of any desertion by members of his party. He however declined to comment on reports that the Congress prematurely aborted a move to form the government some days ago, after allies of the BJP in the ruling coalition government cold-shouldered its attempt to win them over.
Kavlekar and the Congress leadership in Goa has made no secret of its intention to form a government, claiming the mandate it had got in 2017 was stolen by the BJP and a conniving Governor.
The party had emerged the single largest party but could not win support of allies and failed to seize power. Since then it has has also suffered a series of setbacks with at least three legislators jumping ship.
First Health Minister Vishwajit Rane dealt a body blow by quitting his membership and getting re-elected on the BJP ticket within a couple of months of the general elections. A little more than a year later, two more of its MLAs - veteran Subhash Shirodkar and Dayanand Sopte - followed suit.
During the recently held general elections to the Lok Sabha, when bye-elections to four assembly seats were simultaneously held, it only managed to win the Panaji seat and increase its tally to 15 in the 40-member House, putting paid to its hopes of inching towards the half-way mark and seizing power.
