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Goa Congress removes Michael Lobo as leader of Oppn in Assembly amid talks of defection
Goa Congress crisis: AICC observer Dinesh Gundu Rao said a conspiracy was hatched and led by Lobo and former chief minister Digambar Kamat to weaken the party in the coastal state and engineer a defection in the party.
The Congress on Sunday removed Michael Lobo as the leader of Opposition in the Goa Assembly for conspiring to engineer a defection in the party as five party MLAs go incommunicado..
AICC observer Dinesh Gundu Rao said a conspiracy was hatched and led by Lobo and former chief minister Digambar Kamat to weaken the party in the coastal state and engineer in the party.
In a late night development, Congress leader KC Venugopal said party president Sonia Gandhi has asked MP Mukul Wasnik to rush to Goa to oversee the latest political developments there.
“A conspiracy was hatched by some of our own leaders with the BJP to see that the Congress party in Goa is weakened and to engineer defections. This conspiracy was led by two of our own leaders LoP Michael Lobo and Digambar Kamat,” Rao was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
“Michael Lobo immediately removed from the position of Leader of Opposition of Goa,” the AICC Goa in-charge said, adding besides the two leaders, three other party MLAs have gone "incommunicado".
HT had earlier reported about speculations that a switchover of legislators is likely to happen later in the day. Rao, who was rushed to the coastal state a day ago, held a meeting with 10 of the 11 Congress MLAs and tried to put up a united appearance.
Rao said both Kamat and Lobo had been working in total coordination with the BJP. “One person- Digambar Kamat - did it to safeguard his own skin because so many cases are against him and the other person - Michael Lobo- for the sake of power and position. The BJP wants to finish Opposition.”
He further said the BJP was trying for a two/third split, to see that a minimum of eight of the Congress MLAs leave the party. “Many of our people have been offered huge amounts of money. I'm shocked at the amount offered. But our six MLAs stood firm, I'm proud of them,” he said.
The Congress currently has 11 MLAs in Goa. Rao said five party MLAs - Lobo, Kamat, Kedar Naik, Rajesh Faldesai and Delialah Lobo - have gone incommunicado, while five others - Altone D'Costa, Sankalp Amonkar, Yuri Alemao, Carlose Alvares Ferreira, Rudolf Fernandes - were present for the press conference. "Sixth MLA Aleixo Sequeira was in touch with party leaders and is very much with the Congress," Rao said.
“The Congress party will not be disheartened or weakened. We will take up this issue in a more aggressive manner. We will take it to the people this betrayal that is being engineered by two people for the sake of power and personal gain,” Rao said.
It also happened to be the third anniversary of the day when 10 Congress MLAs formed a separate faction and switched over to the BJP back in 2019.
In another development, speaker of the Assembly, Ramesh Tawadkar, cancelled a notification announcing election for the post of deputy speaker.
The order was issued regarding the withdrawal of the election that was scheduled to be held on July 12 during the upcoming monsoon Assembly session.
(With inputs from agencies)
