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Goa MLA spares Congress more embarrassment, says he won’t quit
Goa MLA Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenço was effusively praised by Goa Congress chief Girish Chodankar after the legislator said he will not eject out of the Congress.
PANAJI: The Congress has managed to retain its much-depleted strength of four lawmakers in the Goa assembly after it managed to convince Congress legislator Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenço to cross over. Lourenço, who was perceived to be on his way out of the party, announced on Tuesday that he will stay put, “in the interest of the people” and to “unitedly fight the BJP.”
Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenço made the announcement at a media conference at his Curtorim residence, flanked by Goa Congress president Girish Chodankar and leader of Opposition Digambar Kamat. Lourenço said he was approached by “many political parties” but that after discussions and consultations, he decided that it was important to “stay united to fight the BJP.”
“Lots of parties approached me with a lot of issues and how to go about it. I met a lot of people these days and even voiced my opinion and highlighted differences. I spoke to the party (Congress leadership) about what Goa needs to be done, right up to Rahul Gandhi and (AICC desk in-charge) Dinesh Gundu Rao,” the Congress legislator said.
“After discussion, we have come to an opinion on what people want - that we unite to fight the BJP…. I call on the people to also let us unitedly fight the BJP. Let there be no difference of opinion on the fact that we have decided to unitedly fight the BJP,” Lourenço said at the briefing.
On Twitter, Lourenço also referred to a phone call that he received from Rahul Gandhi to wish him on his birthday – he turned 52 on Wednesday – and pledged to “work harder” for the people of Goa.
Lourenço’s decision to stick to the Congress comes as a huge relief for the party that emerged as the single largest party in the 2017 assembly elections but has since then steadily lost its legislators to the Bharatiya Janata Party. The first one to resign from the Congress was Vishwajit Rane; he dramatically quit the party hours after taking oath as a legislator in March 2017. He was re-elected on a BJP ticket, the state’s ruling party that holds a commanding majority of 27 seats in the 40-member assembly.
Reginaldo Lourenço had been feeling alienated within the party and was known to be disappointed that the party leadership didn’t give him a leadership role despite sticking with the party “through thick and thin” especially when he was the only ‘young’ Congress MLA, and the only MLA who was not a former chief minister to stick with the party and not switch over to the BJP in 2019 when 10 other legislators jumped ship.
Lately, it had become clear that he and state party president Girish Chodankar did not get along very well. In the recent past, Chodankar had even gone public with his criticism of the three-time lawmaker from South Goa’s Curtorim constituency.
At Tuesday’s evening, Girish Chodankar praised him effusively, thanking him for being large-hearted.
“He (Reginaldo Lourenço) is a vibrant leader and he is loved across the state, across sections and people have seen that he fights for Goa. We will not be successful without him. Central leaders P Chidambaram, P Gundu Rao, and Rahul Gandhi organizing secretary Venugopal and the entire organization got involved and worked to ensure that Reginaldo should be on board with us,” Chodankar said.
“There were some issues he wanted to be discussed -- one is about due respect, then about issues within his constituency and there was no difference of opinion that the issues within the constituency need to be resolved. We agreed that these issues need to be resolved. Reginaldo was also concerned about protecting Goa and how it needs to be protected and we have agreed that there cannot be a compromise on the core issues of Goa,” Chodankar said.
“There is no harm in having a difference of opinion, but we sat together and resolved them. And all his issues were nothing personal -- it was either of the constituency or in the larger interest of Goa. Whatever due respect is due to Reginaldo, it will be given whether from Goa or from Delhi leadership also,” the Goa Congress chief said.
Digambar Kamat described Reginaldo Lourenço as “a matured leader” who had worked hard when the Congress was weak. “It was important to clear whatever was in his mind. Nobody can deny his contribution to the party, for the development of Goa,” the leader of opposition in the Goa assembly said.
Congress leaders said the outreach came after the party leadership was made aware of ‘advanced talks’ between Lourenço and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders.
Reginaldo was first elected to the assembly on the ticket of the Save Goa Front in 2007. The party later merged with the Congress and he was elected on a Congress ticket twice.
