A day after the Goa Congress leadership charged senior legislators Michael Lobo and Digambar Kamat with attempting to split the party by hobnobbing with the ruling BJP, the party on Monday moved disqualification petitions against the duo for ‘anti-party activities’ even as senior Congressman and MP Mukul Wasnik, sent as a troubleshooter to the coastal State, declared the situation to be “under control.”
After a high-voltage drama on Sunday with much suspense on whether the party would be able to keep its flock together, the Goa Congress leadership on Monday said seven of the 11 Congress MLAs stood firm with the party.
Given that the party’s Goa desk in-charge Dinesh Gundu Rao had removed Mr. Lobo as Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader on Sunday, Goa Congress chief Amit Patkar said a new Opposition leader would be announced soon. Mr. Patkar said they had met the Speaker to discuss the altered seating arrangements in the House in view of the fact that Mr. Lobo was no longer the CLP chief.
‘Deeply hurt’
Yet, even as the party cracked the whip on Mr. Lobo and Mr. Kamat, both insisted they were still in the Congress, with Mr. Kamat professing to be “deeply hurt” by Mr. Rao’s remarks against him at a press conference on Sunday.
Moreover, the five MLAs — Mr. Lobo, Mr. Kamat, Rajesh Faldessai, Kedar Naik and Delilah Lobo — who reportedly went ‘incommunicado’ on Sunday, attended the first day of the monsoon session of the Assembly on Monday.
“I am shocked, stunned and his [Mr. Rao’s] statements have hurt me beyond words. He visited my house on Saturday and I told him my position was akin to being ‘retired hurt’ owing to the humiliation I suffered after the Assembly election this year…There have been rumours spreading against me since the last two elections that I am going to the BJP. Yet, I have stood firm,” said Mr. Kamat, a seven-time MLA from Margao who was the Congress chief ministerial face during the Assembly election in February this year.
The veteran Congressman further said that in 2022, he was the lone MLA remaining in the Congress and that he could easily have jumped ship at the time had he chosen so.
“Had I wanted, I could have gone to the BJP, but I led the party from the front,” Mr. Kamat said.
Complaining about the incessant round of meetings that were held over the weekend, Mr. Lobo claimed that it was he who had told Mr. Rao that he would not like to continue as the CLP leader.
“On Saturday, we addressed the press after a CLP meeting where all MLAs [except Mr. Kamat] were present. Yet we had another round of press meets on Sunday…We have won on Congress ticket, so we are with the Congress. So, why so many press conferences and CLP meetings? What is it that is being proved by this,” Mr. Lobo said, in a veiled jibe at Mr. Rao.
On Sunday, after Mr. Lobo and Mr. Kamat failed to turn up at an evening press meet to show unity among Congress MLAs, Mr. Rao accused both leaders of trying to weaken the Goa Congress by splitting it in connivance with the BJP.
‘Cheap politics’
“It is sad to see someone as senior as Mr. Kamat indulging in such cheap, dirty and desperate politics”, Mr. Rao had said while lashing out at Mr. Lobo — a former BJP Minister who recently switched to the Congress — by dubbing him a “traitor” and “backstabber.”
Mr. Rao tweeted on Monday saying that it was not just the BJP which was trying to split the Congress but that Goa’s mining and coal lobby were involved as well.
“The big business and govt want to create an opposition free situation in Goa. Goa Congress will continue its fight against these hegemonic forces,” he tweeted.
BJP’s stand
Meanwhile, the BJP distanced itself from the developments claiming that whatever was transpiring was the Congress’s internal affair and that the ruling party had no hand in it.
“The BJP-led government has a comfortable majority [25 of the total 40 MLAs in the Goa Assembly]… we do not need any MLAs from any other party,” said Chief Minister Pramod Sawant.
