PANAJI
The Congress in Goa suffered yet another blow with its senior leader and former chief minister Luizinho Faleiro quitting as MLA and later primary membership of the party but stopped short of formally announcing his entry into West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress (TMC) although he gave all indications he will do so soon.
Interestingly Faleiro, however, indicated he may not contest the 2022 assembly elections in Navelim, lending a semblance of credence to the reports speculating that the Kolkata outfit has offered him a Rajya Sabha seat.
At a press conference at a starred hotel in the capital on Monday evening, the veteran politician dodged questions on the issue of his joining the TMC which is being widely suggested in media reports over the last few days.
"I will let you know soon," was Faleiro's curt response to a question on whether he is joining the TMC.
To another corollary question as to which party he will fight the 2022 assembly elections Faleiro retorted with, "I will let you know whether I will contest or not very soon once I have decided."
Known to be a steadfast Gandhi family loyalist in the three decades that he was in the Congress until Monday, Faleiro more than amply gave away his decision to join the TMC saying: "I will definitely support Mamata Congress because she is a fighter and has succeeded in the fight against the divisive present dispensation in Delhi."
Sources say, Faleiro's formal induction in the TMC could happen as early as Wednesday in Kolkata and he is expected to fly to the 'City of Lights' on Tuesday together with some leaders and current Congress office bearers from Goa.
Two general secretaries of the GPCC, Yatish Naik and Vijay Poi, were present and flanked Faleiro at Monday's press conference.
Aware that his surprise move to quit the Congress, a party he had stayed loyal to for over three decades, could earn him some negative backlash Faleiro said "out of the box" thinking to fight the divisive forces active in Goa and the country and insisted he will always remain a Congressman and part of the Congress family.
"The Congress family consists of several Congress's. There is the Congress, the Mamata Congress, the YSR Congress and the Pawar Congress. All of them have to come together if we are to fight and defeat Modi's BJP in 2024," Faleiro said.
Earlier in the day Faleiro proceeded to the legislative assembly complex and handed over his resignation as MLA of Navelim to the Speaker Rajesh Patnekar.
His resignation has further reduced the strength of the 40-member House to 39 and the legislative strength from five to four of the Congress party, which has faced desertions by as many as 14 MLAs at multiple points in time since emerging as the single largest party with 17 seats at the 2017 elections.
Throwing light on some of the reasons that led to his sudden decision to quit the Congress, Faleiro recalled the post 2017 Assembly election fiasco when the party failed to form the government despite emerging the single largest party. He said he maintained "dignified silence" over the last four and half years in which he "suffered silently."
