Big blow to Congress in Goa, 8 of 11 MLAs jump to BJP

The Goa Congress Legislature Party on Wednesday passed a resolution to merge into the Bharatiya Janata Party, soon after BJP state president Sadanand Shet Tanavade said eight Congress MLAs will join the ruling party.

Leader of Opposition Michael Lobo moved the resolution in the presence of seven other MLAs. The resolution was seconded by former chief minister and MLA Digambar Kamat, sources said.

Prior to this development, the Congress had 11 legislators in the 40-member Goa Assembly and the BJP had 20.

After the resolution was passed, a picture of the eight MLAs meeting Chief Minister Pramod Sawant surfaced on social media.

In the picture, MLAs Michael Lobo along with Digambar Kamat, Delilah Lobo, Rajesh Phaldesai, Kedar Naik, Sankalp Amonkar, Aleixo Sequeira and Rudolf Fernandes were seen interacting with the chief minister.

In a similar move in July 2019, 10 Congress MLAs had switched over to the BJP.

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