Go Goa Gone: Two State Congress Legislators Resign From Party After Meeting With BJP President Amit Shah

Two Congress legislators from Goa - Subhash Shirodkar and Dayanand Sopte on Tuesday (16 October) announced that they would be joining the BJP following a meeting with party president Amit Shah in Delhi. They claimed that two-three MLAs are likely to do the same in the coming days.

“We are joining BJP today. We expect two to three more MLAs to come, not today but in the coming days” said Subhash Shirodkar, as reported by Deccan Chronicle.

This, comes as a welcome sign for the BJP as it strives to keep the alliance and its government in Goa intact, while Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar suffers from a pancreatic ailment.

The two legislators resigned as members of the state assembly after their meeting with the BJP President and also left for Delhi on Monday (15 October).

"I am going on a business trip," Sopte had told reporters at the airport. When Shirodkar was asked whether he was joining the BJP, he responded, "You will come to know, if I do it".

BJP Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar was defeated by Sopte during the 2017 Goa Assembly elections.

The Secretary of All India Congress Committee A Chellakumar said that he had spoken to both the legislators and they assured him that they were not resigning from the party.

Currently the Congress has 16 MLAs in the Goa assembly. Their strength will go down to 14 following the resignation. BJP has 14 MLAs while three each belong to the Goa Forward Party, Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party and independents. One legislator is from the NCP.