July 2019 and now: Its deja vu for Congress in Goa as Digambar Kamat-Michael Lobo combo returns to haunt party again

What happened in Goa today was a deja vu for the Congress. Its eight out of 11 MLAs jumping ship to the BJP in Goa might have reminded the party of the July 2019 episode when 10 its legislators had switched over to the saffron camp in the state. 

The eight MLAs who switched sides, leaving the Congress with just three members, included former chief minister Digambar Kamat, who led the party campaign in the state earlier this year, and the current LoP Michael Lobo. 

Lobo held a crucial meeting of Congress Legislature Party on Wednesday morning and resolved to merge Congress Legislature Party into BJP. The MLAs then submitted the letter of merger to Secretary (Legislature). they later joined the BJP in presence of CM Pramod Sawant. 

Two months after being accused by his own party of plotting a defection of its MLAs along with Kamat, Lobo returned to deal a body blow to the Congress again this time, leaving the grand old party decimated.  He said they took the decision to strengthen the hands of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant.

Back in July, there were reports that six Congress MLAs, led by Lobo and Kamat, were planning to join the BJP. At that time, the Congress managed to ward off the crisis and fired Lobo as the LoP. 

It had also sought the disqualification of Kamat and Lobo as MLAs, filing disqualification petitions against them before the Assembly Speaker, which are still pending.

The state Congress president, Amit Patkar, and other leaders had then also urged the Speaker to change the seating arrangements in the House in accordance with the Congress Legislature Party (CLP)’s resolution removing Lobo as the CLP leader.

Lobo, a three-time MLA, had joined the Congress after quitting the BJP earlier this year in the run-up to the February Goa Assembly polls. 

When Lobo joined the Congress earlier this year, severing his 15-year-old ties with the BJP, the move was seen as a shot in the arm for a crisis-hit Congress that had seen a series of exits ahead of the elections. 

Kamat, when asked about the breach of the loyalty pledge taken by party candidates before the state Assembly elections, said he has switched to the saffron party fold with “divine consent”.

“About the oath which I had taken before God, I have gone before God and the Goddess and said that this (joining BJP) is in my mind. What should I do? In Goa, we have a system of taking prasad. Then God said you go ahead, don’t worry,” Kamat told reporters in Panaji.