Split In Goa Congress Averted, But Deep Fissures Within The Party Unit Stand Exposed

The Congress party, which is already finding it difficult to keep its Maharashtra unit together, is now facing a similar challenge in Goa.

On Sunday, the possibility of two-thirds of Congress MLAs in Goa looking to jump the ship were doing the rounds. The internal rebellion was reportedly headed by Congress’s leader of the opposition, Michael Lobo, MLA from Calangute and Digambar Kamat, former CM of Goa and MLA from Margao.

To show their unity, the party's Goa in charge, Dinesh Gundu Rao, called a press conference on Sunday afternoon. However, only 2 MLAs reached out of a total of 11, sending the party into a frenzy. Congress leader Mukul Wasnik was sent to Goa to stop the mass exodus from the party.

By Monday morning, Michael Lobo, Digambar Kamat, Kedar Naik, Rajesh Faldesai and Delialah Lobo – were not reachable. According to PTI, a senior Congress leader confirmed that they have moved five MLAs, who were still with the party, to an undisclosed location to avoid further split.

Rao accused Lobo and Kamat of hatching a conspiracy with the BJP to engineer a split in Congress yesterday. He announced the removal of Lobo from the post of the LoP on Sunday.

However, the 5 rebel MLAs showed up during the Assembly session and claimed that there was "nothing wrong" in the party.

Kamat said, “I had met Dinesh Gundu Rao on Saturday. I told him that I am hurt because of the humiliation that I faced in the party,” adding that rumours of him joining the BJP were floating since 2017.

The notification for election for Deputy Speaker, which was to be held on 12th July, was also withdrawn amidst the rapidly changing political situation in the state.

It seems that the Congress has managed to quell the rebellion for now, even though the episode has exposed deep fissures in the party's Goa state unit.