PANAJI:
Four months after resigning from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), its former Goa unit chief Amit Palekar is set to join the Indian National Congress on Friday, April 10.
A senior Congress leader confirmed that Palekar will formally join the party in the presence of AICC Goa desk in-charge Manikrao Thakre. Palekar is expected to be Congress’ face from St Cruz constituency for the 2027 polls.
A lawyer-turned-politician, Palekar was appointed president of AAP’s Goa unit in May 2022. However, following the party’s poor performance in the Zilla Panchayat elections held in December last year, he was relieved of his post.
Subsequently, Palekar, along with then acting Goa AAP president Shrikrishna Parab, resigned from the party in January.
In his resignation letter addressed to AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal and Goa state in-charge Atishi, Palekar had said that his decision to resign was taken “not in anger or haste” but out of self-respect for his supporters and the St Cruz constituency.
“I did not enter public life in pursuit of posts or positions. I joined the party believing in its promise of an alternative political culture—one anchored in transparency, internal democracy and respect for grassroots voices. Over time, however, it became increasingly difficult to reconcile these ideals with the way decisions are presently taken and communicated,” he stated.
