PANAJI
Sanguem's Independent MLA, Prasad Gaonkar on Sunday quit his membership of the Legislative Assembly and was later in the evening inducted into the Congress party.
Gaonkar submitted his resignation to Legislature Secretary Namrata Ulman who accepted it on behalf of the Speaker Rajesh Patnekar.
After putting in his papers Gaonkar said Congress loyalists in his constituency have assured him that they will get him elected and therefore he has taken the step.
Gaonkar in the recent past however had made a couple of political flip-flops first aligning with the Congress, then publicly expressing support to the Trinamool Congress (TMC) on one of the visits of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
Days after his outing with Banerjee's TMC, Gaonkar was also part of the entourage comprising Goa Forward Party's Vijai Sardesai and Opposition Leader Digambar Kamat which got an audience with Congress Leader Rahul Gandhi in Delhi.
He had met Rahul Gandhi in this regards in New Delhi in the first week of Dec 2021. “Congress loyalists in Sanguem have assured me that they will get me elected,” he asserted. Earlier he had extended support to TMC.
In Goa, Gaonkar was inducted into the Congress in the presence of Goa Desk-incharge Dinesh Gundu Rao, senior leader Elvis Gomes and other party leaders. The independent MLA from Sanguem had tendered his resignation as MLA earlier in the day.
Meanwhile, CLP leader Digambar Kamat said that BJP Minister Michael Lobo is in touch with Congress leadership. “Anybody joining Congress is welcome,” he added.
