His resignation brings down Congress’ energy in 40-seat Goa Meeting to simply two MLAs
The Congress obtained one other jolt forward of the approaching Goa Meeting election, with three-time MLA Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco from Curtorim in south Goa resigning on Monday from the celebration in addition to the Meeting.
This leaves a severely-depleted Congress with simply two MLAs in its fold, former Chief Ministers and veterans Digambar Kamat and Pratapsingh Rane. It’s a serious comedown from 2017 when the celebration emerged as the only largest celebration with 17 legislators within the 40-seat Meeting.
Nonetheless, on the time, the BJP, which gained 13 seats, solid an alliance with some regional outfits and Independents to kind the federal government.
Final week, the Congress included Mr. Lourenco’s identify within the first checklist of eight candidates for the Meeting ballot slated to be held in February.
Hypothesis is rife that Mr. Lourenco could be a part of the Trinamool Congress (TMC), which has been on a busy headhunting for the reason that previous few months.
In September, former Chief Minister Luizinho Faleiro resigned from the Congress in addition to the sitting MLA of the Navelim seat to hitch the TMC.
Lower than 10 days in the past, one other former Goa Chief Minister, Churchill Alemao, who’s the sitting NCP legislator from Benaulim, re-entered the TMC’s fold.
‘Season of defections’
In truth, at least seven sitting MLAs – three of them former Chief Ministers, together with Mr. Faleiro and Mr. Alemao, have resigned from the Meeting to hitch totally different political events forward of the polls, making the phrase ‘season of defections’ really a cliché in Goa.
A fortnight in the past, former Chief Minister Ravi Naik, one other Congress veteran and MLA from Ponda, tendered his resignation to change sides with the BJP.
On Thursday final week, former Minister Alina Saldanha turned the primary sitting MLA from the BJP to give up the celebration forward of the polls to hitch Arwind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Occasion (AAP). Ms. Saldanha, who served because the Surroundings and Forest Minister underneath the erstwhile Manohar Parrikar-led BJP authorities, was the MLA from Cortalim.
Final week, influential Impartial MLA Rohan Khaunte from Porvorim resigned from the Meeting to hitch the BJP within the presence of the BJP’s election in cost Devendra Fadnavis, whereas one other necessary chief, Prasad Gaonkar, while not resigning, is rumoured to be becoming a member of the Congress.
Since 2017, at least 22 MLAs have defected to different events, with at least 18 legislators becoming a member of the BJP.
“How this ideological flip-flop, on the a part of sitting MLAs to hitch both the BJP or some other events, will play out stays to be seen. There’s additionally the issue of disgruntlement on the a part of the loyalists inside a celebration, say as an example the BJP, which has been ‘importing’ a lot of candidates from both the Congress or dysfunctional indigenous events just like the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Occasion (MGP),” stated a Goa-based analyst.
He noticed that regional events just like the TMC and the AAP had been utilizing sitting MLAs who had been stalwarts of their respective constituencies (like Mr. Faleiro, Ms. Saldanha and Mr. Alemao) as a ladder to make inroads into Goa.
