PANAJI: Ahead of the presidential election on Monday, five Congress legislators - Sankalp Amonkar (Mormugao), Carlos Alvares Ferreira (Aldona), Altone D'Costa (Quepem), Yuri Alemao (Cuncolim), and Rudolf Fernandes (Santa Cruz) - were shifted to Chennai on Friday night by the party.
"To avoid cross-voting, the party has asked us to stay together," one of the MLAs said. "We have gone to Chennai, and will be back in Goa on Monday morning. We are a total of five MLAs."
One Congress functionary said that some of the legislators have "made up their mind to join BJP". "They are not thinking of the long term. They want to do everything in one term itself," he said.
'Decision to join BJP will not help them in long run'
The decision to join BJP will not help them in the long run," the functionary said, on the condition of anonymity.
Sources said Congress did not want to make any change before the presidential election, and that is the reason they have been moved out of the state, fearing defection.
Since July 10, Congress has been trying every possibility to foil the merger attempt. Congress' Goa desk in-charge Dinesh Gundu Rao had also held several rounds of meetings with MLAs to stop them from joining BJP. Even Congress president Sonia Gandhi deputed AICC general secretary Mukhul Wasnik to convince the MLAs.
The breakaway group, which has six MLAs led by former CM Digambar Kamat, said that two more are in touch with them. "Both have agreed to come with us, but need a little more time to join the group," one of the breakaway MLAs said.
"We have told them that once they are in BJP, it will help them take up development work in their constituencies and resolve the issues of the public," he said.
The breakaway MLA said that it's a matter of time before they merge into BJP.
In the 40-member House, Congress has 11 MLAs, while BJP has 20 and is supported by 2 MGP members and three Independents. Before the assembly polls this year, Congress had made its candidates sign an affidavit and take oath before a temple deity and a Catholic cross that they would not defect to BJP after getting elected.
