PANAJI
The Trinamool Congress in Goa on Wednesday 'poached' yet another sitting MLA Prasad Gaonkar, who extended support to the West Bengal-based party, even as the Sanguem sitting legislator said that he would be formally joining the outfit soon.
After former Chief Minister and ex-Navelim MLA Luizinho Faleiro, Gaonkar is the second legislator to commit allegiance to the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee-led political party, which is gearing up to contest the 2022 state assembly polls in Goa.
"The Congress should have capitalised on the anger against the BJP, but they have been unable to do so. So, I am supporting TMC," Gaonkar said, at a press conference held near Panaji.
Gaonkar also said that he had joined Banerjee's call for a "new dawn in Goa" while describing the West Bengal Chief Minister as a "new avatar of Durga".
"Only Mamata didi can change the regime of Modi. The manner in which she handled the Bengal election and kept BJP at bay was phenomenal. She is the woman who carried out the miracle. She showed her worth," Gaonkar said.
Along with Prasad, his brother Shankar, who had joined the Congress party in July this year, also joined the TMC, with his supporters.
Interestingly, Prasad Gaonkar is considered close to former Chief Minister and Congress leader Digambar Kamat and his open expression of support to TMC, could be regarded as a victory of sorts to TMC's tallest state leader Luizinho Faleiro, who also quit the Congress last month.
After initially backing the Congress in its bid to form the government in 2017, Gaonkar had formally supported the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government in Goa, before withdrawing support to the government last year.
His public extension of support to the TMC is expected to be a shot-in-the-arm for the party in its campaign for the 2022 state assembly polls.
Faleiro, who was addressing the media also said that the TMC would be roping in several women into the party in the near future, adding that Mamata Banerjee was "very, very concerned" about women empowerment.
"We are going to give you the faces of women in Goa maybe by Dussehra, or thereafter. A lot of women are going to join. Empowering women is one of the objectives of TMC. Women have 45 per cent representation in TMC in Bengal," Faleiro said.
