MAPUSA
Congress has neither a present nor a future in Goa, said former Congress MLA from Calangute Agnelo Fernandes and blamed former GPCC chief Girish Chodankar and senior national Congress leaders for destroying the party in the State.
Fernandes also said Calangute MLA Michael Lobo had struck a deal with Union Home Minister Amit Shah before the assembly elections to rejoin the BJP with a group of Congress MLAs post polls.
“Congress does not have a present now and you cannot think of a future when there is no present. Who ditched the people of Goa is ex-Congress president, Girish Chodankar, Gundu Rao and P Chidambaram,” Fernandes said.
The former Congress MLA from Calangute was reacting after eight of its MLAs including Calangute MLA Michael Lobo quit and embraced the BJP.
Continuing, Fernandes said six months before the assembly elections in the State, he had warned the local and national Congress leaders about the deal between Lobo and Amit Shah.
“Michael had made a deal with Amit Shah to take 5-6 MLAs of Congress and go back to the BJP after the elections. I had told this to P Chidambaram, Gundu Rao and Girish Chodankar but they did not pay heed to my advice,” he said.
“At every meeting, I told them that Michael has made a deal. I told them that he will go back. He came only to win because he was not winning on BJP ticket from Calangute,” he added.
The former MLA also alleged that some Congress leaders had taken money from Lobo and it was an open secret.
“They took money from Michael in the assembly election…that everybody knows. You cannot blame Michael… Calangute was a winnable seat for Congress. Anyone from among us, Anthony Menezes, Joseph Sequeira or I could have won the seat. These people sold it,” he alleged.
