Goa chief minister Pramod Sawant and eight legislators who recently switched over from the Congress to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the coastal state will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi on Monday.
Sawant left for the national capital in the evening with most of the MLAs, while MLAs Michael Lobo and Digambar Kamat, who are currently out of station, will join them in Delhi.
"Eight former Congress MLAs who joined BJP and I are going to Delhi to meet the Prime Minister tomorrow," Sawant told reporters at the Goa airport.
The MLAs and Sawant would be accompanied by BJP state unit president Sadanand Tanavade.
On Wednesday, eight MLAs, including former chief minister Digambar Kamat, Michael Lobo, Delilah Lobo, Kedar Naik, Rajesh Phaldesai, Sankalp Amonkar, Rudolf Fernandes and Aleixo Sequeira joined the BJP after passing a resolution in a meeting of the Congress Legislature Party.
The turncoat MLAs are also likely to meet BJP president JP Nadda and Union home minister Amit Shah during their Delhi visit.
The saffron camp retained power in the 40-member Goa Assembly after the election in March this year. The BJP now has 28 MLAs in the 40-member Assembly, while the Congress's number has been reduced to three.
{{/usCountry}}The saffron camp retained power in the 40-member Goa Assembly after the election in March this year. The BJP now has 28 MLAs in the 40-member Assembly, while the Congress's number has been reduced to three.
{{/usCountry}}The grand old party has accused the ruling camp of luring away the legislators by offering ₹40-50 crore to each one of them.
Goa Pradesh Congress Committee president Amit Patkar said one of the MLAs was initially approached by the BJP with ₹30 crore cash, but he was not ready for that amount. Then an additional ₹10 crore were offered to him within two hours. "But since he was not willing even after that, he was given ₹5 crore more, only after which he agreed," he said without naming the MLA.
On Thursday, Sawant met Goa governor PS Sreedharan Pillai amid talk of a cabinet reshuffle in the wake of the eight Congress MLAs joining the BJP.
The chief minister later said the meeting had nothing to do with politics. The Goa cabinet currently has 11 ministers from the BJP, besides Sudin Dhavalikar of the ally Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party. The state can have maximum of 12 ministers.
(With agency inputs)