Kamat, Lobo, other Congress MLAs may join BJP soon

PANAJI: Former chief minister Digambar Kamat, leader of opposition Michael Lobo and other Congress MLAs have reached an understanding with the BJP central leadership to join the saffron party soon, sources told TOI late Saturday night.
“We may join BJP anytime and we are waiting for a call from the BJP’s central leadership. No promises have been made for any particular positions or cabinet berth,” a Congress MLA said on condition of anonymity.
Though both Kamat and Lobo denied that they are planning to join BJP, sources said that the decision to take the Congress MLAs into BJP has been decided by the party brass. The decision to move en masse to BJP is to avoid disqualification, sources said.
In the 40-member House, Congress has 11 MLAs, while BJP has 20 and is supported by 2 MGP members and three Independents.
Sources said the BJP state unit was not very keen in inducting the Congress MLAs into the party. But with an eye on the Lok Sabha elections in 2024, where BJP lost the South Goa seat in 2019 to Congress, the central leadership was keen to get the Congress MLAs into its fold to ensure there were no hurdles in winning the seat.
BJP state president Sadanand Shet Tanavade remained non-committal. “I have not got any official communication from the central leadership,” he told TOI.
This is not the first time that Congress MLAs have moved en masse to BJP. In July 2019, the then leader of opposition Chandrakant ‘Babu’ Kavalekar along with nine Congress MLAs had joined BJP.
Before the 2022 elections, Congress had made its MLAs take a vow before both the Church and a temple that they would not ditch the party and move to BJP after they were elected.
Political observers said the decision of Congress MLAs to join BJP would be a big blow to the party in Goa as it would be the second time such a large chunk of MLAs would defect towards the saffron party.
Earlier in the day, with speculation doing the rounds that Congress could see another split, party’s Goa desk in-charge Dinesh Gundu Rao landed here.
In a bid to put up a united front, Congress MLAs went into a huddle at a city-based hotel on Saturday, but Margao MLA Digambar Kamat was conspicuous by his absence. Rao and state Congress chief Amit Patkar said Kamat had gone to a mutt in Canacona to seek spiritual blessings.
Congress said the meeting with Rao was convened to deliberate over floor management strategy, as the duration of the monsoon session had been curtailed and several MLAs are first-time legislators.
“Goa is always full of speculation. We have to work effectively as the opposition, and for that, we are going to have discussions. We have to represent the people and see people’s money. These rumours have been there since the assembly results came out,” said Rao.
Lobo said the Congress MLAs remain united. Lobo has been under pressure from the government over irregularities that occurred when he was a BJP MLA.