PANJIM: There is another political rebellion on the cards – this time in Goa -- with a persistent buzz about at least six Congress MLAs, led by former Goa Chief Minister Digambar Kamat, defecting to the BJP.
After staying in denial all day and debunking reports that some of its MLAs were crossing over to the ruling BJP, the Congress party roused itself from slumber and sacked Michael Lobo as the Leader of Opposition.
There was also a belated admission at a party press conference that a "conspiracy" had been hatched by some of its leaders in collusion with the BJP to weaken it and engineer defections.
"A conspiracy was hatched by some of our own leaders with the BJP to see that the Congress party in Goa is weakened and to engineer defections. This conspiracy was led by 2 of our own leaders – Leader of Opposition Michael Lobo and Digambar Kamat," Congress Goa in-charge Dinesh Gundu Rao said.
"Both these people had been working in tandem with the BJP. One person -- Digambar Kamat -- did it to shield himself because he is embroiled in so many cases and the other person - Michael Lobo – has succumbed to the lure of power and position. The BJP wants to finish off the Opposition," he added.
Sources were cited by NDTV as saying that five Congress MLAs -- Michael Lobo, Delilah Lobo, Digambar Kamat, Kedar Naik and Rajesh Faldessai -- are reportedly at the Chief Minister's house. According to these sources, Kamat - the party's Chief Ministerial nominee in the elections held earlier this year - had skipped a meeting of MLAs on Saturday.
A party meeting on Sunday also saw less-than-full attendance amid reports of some leaders being in touch with the ruling BJP a day before the assembly session, the NDTV adds.
Eight MLAs (two-thirds of the total) need to leave the Congress so that anti-defection law doesn't come into play.
Meanwhile, former Goa Congress chief Girish Chodankar has alleged that party MLAs were offered Rs 40 crore to join the BJP. According to Chodankar, Congress legislators are getting calls from by industrialists and the coal mafia.
The BJP has, however, dismissed the allegations, with its state president, Sadanand Tanavde, telling India Today news portal, which broke the story, that the Congress is "making baseless allegations about MLAs being approached and offered money.’’
‘‘Goa BJP has nothing to do with the confusion in the Congress and we haven’t heard anything from our party in this regard," he added, reports the newsportal.
Meanwhile, in another development, Goa Assembly Speaker Ramesh Tawadkar on Sunday cancelled the notification for election to the post of deputy speaker, which was scheduled for July 12. This has been done in view of the fluid political situation, sources said.
