Victor Gonsalves blames Congress leadership of sidelining party loyalists
@the_news_21
Mumbai: The flavour of the election season is back! Political defections or call it party hopping. With assembly elections barely a month away, political defections continue unabated in Goa with senior Congress leader and former MLA Victor Gonsalves being the latest in the long list of party hoppers. Gonsalves quit the Congress and joined the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) party on Thursday.
The former MLA from the Santa Cruz assembly constituency, was inducted into the TMC fold in the presence of MPs Mahua Moitra (the party’s Goa in-charge) and Sushmita Dev here on Thursday. Victor Gonsalves had won the St. Cruz seat way back in 1989 and was a former general secretary of the Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC).
Victor Gonsalves accused the Congress of betraying the trust of its supporters and workers, the ex-Congressman said that Mamata Banerjee was the only person who could be projected as a credible alternative to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
He further remarked, “The Congress party has been sidelining its loyal workers…furthermore, there is no real ground work being done in any constituency by the Congress. They are fast losing the people’s trust.”
According to sources, the real reason for Victor Gonsalves to resign appears to be the induction of former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) cabinet minister and ex-Calangute legislator Michael Lobo in the Congress fold. Michael Lobo’s induction has also led to intense resentment within local Congress ranks, leading to the entire Calangute Congress block members tendering their resignations.
Earlier, TMC MP Sushmita Dev claimed there will be an “exodus of leaders” from the Congress who will join the TMC soon. Accusing Michael Lobo of ‘opportunism’, Sushmita Dev further said that the former Minister would join whichever party that formed the government after the Assembly elections.
Being a long-term member of the Goa Congress, Victor Gonsalves has had his fair share of opportunism. He has been party-hopping frequently as he aligned himself with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) before joining the Vijai Sardesai-led Goa Forward Party (GFP) in 2017. He re-entered the Congress in 2020 before leaving it for the TMC.
The Congress has been accusing the TMC of being more ‘anti-Congress’ than ‘anti-BJP’ in its Goa election strategy, with Congress’ Goa in-charge Dinesh Gundu Rao stating that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s party has been poaching leaders from Congress ranks.
It is the ruling BJP, with the maximum number of MLAs, that has been plagued most by defections from, and resentment within the party fold.
Meanwhile, loyal BJP cadres have been disappointed with the induction of what they call imported candidates into the saffron party like Independent MLA Rohan Khaunte.
The BJP has lost at least four sitting MLAs in less than a month – including three Catholic MLAs: former Minister Alina Saldanha (joined Aam Aadmi Party); Carlos Almeida and Michael Lobo (both joined the Congress).
