Goa Assembly election: another jolt to the Congress as sitting MLA Aleixo Lourenco quits

His resignation brings down Congress’ strength in 40-seat Goa Assembly to just two MLAs

@the_news_21

Pune: The beleaguered Congress on Monday received yet another jolt ahead of the forthcoming Goa Assembly election with three-time sitting MLA Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco from Curtorim assembly constituency in South Goa resigned from the party as well as the State Assembly.

This leaves a badly-depleted Congress with just two MLAs in its fold, former Chief Minister’s and veterans Digambar Kamat and Pratapsingh Rane. It is a major climb down from 2017 when the party had emerged as the single-largest party with 17 legislators in the 40 member Goa Legislative Assembly.

However, in 2017 the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which had won 13 seats, had forged an alliance with some regional outfits and Independents to form the government. 

Last week, the Congress had included Lourenco’s name in the first list of eight candidates in the Goa Assembly poll slated to be held in February 2022. Speculation is rife that Lourenco is likely to join the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC). The TMC has been on a hectic headhunting spree for the past few months. Earlier, in September, former Chief Minister Luizinho Faleiro had resigned from the Congress as well as his membership from the Navelim seat to join the TMC. 

Ten days ago, another former Goa chief minister Churchill Alemao, the sitting NCP legislator from Benaulim rejoined the TMC’s fold.  

In fact, no less than seven sitting MLAs, three former chief ministers including Luizinho Faleiro and Churchill Alemao resigned from the Goa Assembly to join different political parties ahead of the polls, making the phrase ‘season of defections’ truly a cliché in Goa. 

A fortnight ago, former chief minister Ravi Naik, another Congress veteran and sitting MLA from Ponda Assembly constituency, tendered his resignation to switch sides with the BJP. 

On Thursday last week, former Goa Minister Alina Saldanha became the first sitting MLA from the BJP to quit the party ahead of the polls to join Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). Alina Saldanha, who served as the Environment and Forest Minister under the erstwhile Manohar Parrikar-led BJP government, was the sitting MLA from Cortalim in South Goa. 

Last week, influential sitting Independent MLA Rohan Khaunte from Porvorim resigned from the Goa Assembly to join the BJP in the presence of the BJP’s Goa election in-charge Devendra Fadnavis. Another important Independent leader, Prasad Gaonkar, whilst not resigning, is rumoured to be joining the Congress. 

Since 2017, no less than 22 MLAs have defected to other parties, with no less than 18 legislators joining the BJP. 

“How this ideological flip-flop, on part of sitting MLAs to join either the BJP or any other parties, will play out remains to be seen. There is also the problem of disgruntlement on part of loyalists within a party, say for instance the BJP which has been ‘importing’ a large number of candidates from either the Congress or dysfunctional indigenous parties like the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP),” said a Goa-based analyst. 

He observed that regional parties like the TMC and the AAP were using sitting MLAs who were stalwarts in their respective constituencies (like Luizinho Faleiro, Alina Saldanha and Churchill Alemao) as a gateway to make inroads into Goa.