Eight MLAs who recently switched over from the Congress to the ruling BJP in Goa will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi on Monday, a senior party leader said on Sunday.
Six of them, led by Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and the BJP state unit president Sadanand Tanavade, will leave for Delhi by flight on Sunday night, while MLAs Michael Lobo and Digambar Kamat, who are currently out of station, will join them later in the national capital, he said.
Earlier on Wednesday, MLAs Digambar Kamat, Michael Lobo, Delilah Lobo, Kedar Naik, Rajesh Phaldesai, Sankalp Amonkar, Rudolf Fernandes and Aleixo Sequeira had joined the BJP after passing a resolution in a meeting of the Congress Legislature Party.
According to BJP sources, the MLAs were also likely to meet BJP president J. P. Nadda and Union Home Minister Amit Shah during their Delhi visit, but the appointments are not confirmed yet. The BJP retained power in the 40-member Goa Assembly after the election in March and has 28 MLAs, while the number of Congress MLAs has reduced to three.
Mr. Sawant had on Thursday met Goa Governor P. S. Sreedharan Pillai amid talks of a Cabinet reshuffle in the wake of the recent incident. He later said the meeting had nothing to do with politics. The Goa cabinet currently has 11 Ministers from the BJP, besides Sudin Dhavalikar of the ally Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party.
