Goa Assembly election: Three-time Goa Congress MLA Aleixo Lourenco joins TMC after quitting Congress

Goa Congress decries Lourenco’s ‘betrayal’, but says party will defeat opportunists and win 2022 poll

@the_news_21

Pune: Barely a day after he resigned from the Congress party and the Goa Assembly, three-time MLA Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco joined the Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Tuesday in the presence of TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee and the party’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee in Kolkata even as the Goa Congress termed it as Lourenco’s “betrayal”. 

Lourenco, represented the Curtorim assembly constituency in South Goa and also served as the Goa Congress’ working president. It was a severe body blow to the Congress as his decision has now brought down the Congress’ strength in the 40 member Goa Assembly election to just two MLAs.  

It may be recalled that last week, the Congress had included Lourenco’s name in the first list of eight candidates in the Goa Assembly poll that are due to be held in February 2022.  

Remarking that the TMC was the only party capable of taking on the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Goa, the former Curtorim MLA lambasted the Goa Congress’ for dragging its feet in formulating a concrete strategy against the BJP which had forced him to quit from the party.

Lourenco added, “Since 2012, I had taken the challenge to fight the BJP. Yet, when I used to ask my party (Congress) of their strategy, all that the higher-ups advocated was waiting and more waiting…instead, the TMC has already managed to formulate an alliance with the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP).” He urged the people of Goa to give the TMC a chance in the forthcoming election. 

A stunned Congress lashed out at Lourenco’s defection, with former Chief Minister and veteran Congressman Digambar Kamat remarking that Lourenco had betrayed the party which had spoiled him and overlooked his many faults. Kamat is the leader of opposition in the Goa Legislative Assembly. 

Stating that the Congress’ fortunes would not be affected by his defection, the former Congress chief minister equated Lourenco’s exit to that of “a son in the family who is a drug addict” and “does not give up his addiction” despite best efforts to save him.  

Kamat further added, “Lourenco has taken a suicidal step…In a such situation, the blame does not lie with the family. His going has been a blessing in disguise. If more people want to leave, they are free to do so. I will lead the party from the front.”

The senior Congress leader remarked that the Congress had faced many political “storms, floods and tsunamis” in the past and that the party’s loyal functionaries had the strength and the capacity to defeat opportunists like Lourenco.

Kamat further remarked, “The party had given him too much importance and had pampered him…we forgave him despite his meetings with BJP election in-charge Devendra Fadnavis and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) representatives.” He further added that the Congress would field a fresh face from Curtorim and win the seat and that the party itself would triumph in the 2022 Assembly election. 

Meanwhile, the political landscape in Goa continued to be afflicted by the ‘defection malaise’ after MGP leader Premendra Shet joined the BJP along with his supporters in the presence of Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant. Shet attributed his exit from Goa’s oldest regional party, to the MGP’s ‘unnatural alliance’ with the TMC. He is likely to be the BJP’s candidate from the Maem Assembly seat in North Goa.