Panaji: Former Goa chief minister and incumbent Congress MLA Luizinho Faleiro is likely to join the Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Monday, September 27, after quitting his party of 40 years.
The TMC has already announced its plans to contest the next year’s Goa Assembly elections. TMC leader Derek O’Brien told PTI that the party will be contesting the upcoming Assembly polls and they were in touch with several local leaders.
“I am in deep meditation. I am reading everything. One thing I will tell you (that) people of Goa are suffering, somebody has to stand up,” he said on Sunday.
On Monday, Faleiro quit his party and resigned as Navelim MLA.
Faleiro also said that the “Mamata formula” has won in West Bengal and called the TMC chief a “street fighter,” according to NDTV.
The former chief minister said he would be a “Congressman of the larger Congress family”. The TMC broke away from the Congress party in the nineties.
“I met some people. They said I am a Congressman of 40 years. I will continue to be a Congressman of the Congress family. Among all four Congresses, it is Mamata who has given a tough fight to Modi and their juggernaut. PM Modi had 200 meetings in Bengal. Amit Shah had 250 meetings. Then there was ED, CBI. But the Mamata formula has won,” said Faleiro, according to NDTV.
Reacting to the TMC’s announcement to contest the polls, the Congress on Sunday issued a statement saying Goans have full faith in the Congress “which has respected the sentiments and emotions of the people”.
“Goans will never fall prey for political gambles and gimmicks and will never compromise on Goa’s identity,” said the statement signed by Goa Pradesh Congress Committee President Girish Chodankar and Congress Legislative Party president Digambar Kamat.
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Faleiro was credited with devising strategies and stitching alliances that led to the formation of governments in Mizoram, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur. In 2013, he was chairman of the Karnataka Pradesh Assembly Elections Screening Committee.
In the 2017 Assembly elections in Goa, Congress won the highest 17 seats in the 40-member House restricting the BJP to 13. However, surprising the Congress, the saffron party allied with regional parties and formed government under the leadership of senior leader Manohar Parrikar.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has already thrown its hat in the ring ahead of the polls, with the party’s national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announcing free power up to 300 units per month and 80% jobs for locals if his party is voted to power during his recent visit to Panaji.
(With PTI inputs)