11 MLAs of Goa Congress likely to join BJP: CT Ravi

Kolar (Karnataka) [India], July 11 (ANI): Bharatiya Janata Party General Secretary C.T. Ravi, who is also the party's Goa in charge, on Monday claimed that 11 MLAs of the Goa Congress are ready to leave the party and join the BJP. 

"11 MLAs of Goa Congress are ready to leave Congress and join us as soon as possible. Many leaders and legislators of Congress are in contact with the BJP and will hopefully join the BJP shortly," said CT Ravi. 

The Goa Congress on Monday said it was seeking disqualification of two of its leaders – Michael Lobo and Digambar Kamat – from the Assembly over allegations that the two senior functionaries were trying to engineer defections in the opposition camp for a switchover to the BJP.

This comes as five Goa Congress MLAs, who went incommunicado a day before, attended the state Assembly proceedings on the first day of the monsoon session on Monday, and claimed there was "nothing wrong" in the opposition party.

On Sunday, out of the total 11 Congress MLAs in the state, five -- Michael Lobo, Digambar Kamat, Kedar Naik, Rajesh Faldesai and Delialah Lobo -- had gone incommunicado, a senior party leader earlier said. The Congress subsequently removed Lobo from the post of Leader of Opposition in the 40-member state Assembly. Congress's Goa in-charge Dinesh Gundu Rao had alleged that "Lobo and Kamat were hatching a conspiracy by hobnobbing with the BJP to engineer a split in the Congress."

Addressing a press conference on Sunday, Dinesh Gundu Rao said that "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 two of our own leaders, Leaders of Opposition Michael Lobo and Digambar Kamat. Both these people had been working in total coordination with BJP. One person- Digambar Kamat- did it to safeguard his own skin because so many cases are against him and the other person- Michael Lobo- for the sake of power and position. BJP wants to finish the Opposition," he said.

Rao said that a new leader will be elected for the post of Leader of Opposition.

Talking further about the political developments in Karnataka, CT Ravi said, "Former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Karnataka Congress President DK Shivakumar are dreaming of becoming Chief Ministers which will never come true. A competition is going on between those two for the position of CM."

"Knowing about this tussle, several Karnataka Congress MLAs and leaders are uncertain about their future and can also join the BJP soon," he said. 

This news comes amid the Congress party’s upcoming ‘Bharat Jodo Padayatra’, a campaign aiming to boost the presence of the Congress party in Karnataka ahead of next year’s Assembly elections. (ANI)