Four Goa Congress leaders resigned from the party on Thursday to protest against its stand on the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and three of them later joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), ahead of the saffron party’s rally here on Friday.
Former Panaji Congress block committee president Prasad Amonkar, former block committee secretary Dinesh Kubal, former youth leader Shivraj Tarkar and north Goa minority cell chief Javed Sheikh quit the party in the morning, saying they were in favour of the amended citizenship law.
Mr. Amonkar, Mr. Kubal and Mr. Tarkar later joined the BJP, ahead of the party working president J. P. Nadda’s public awareness rally on the CAA here on Friday.
The three were welcomed into the BJP by party MLA from Panaji, Atansaio Monserratte.
Later, talking to reporters, Mr. Amonkar said they had joined the BJP as they supported the CAA and wanted to create awareness about it.
‘Misleading people’
“We all were part of the Congress’ protest held last week against the CAA and NRC. But, we realised that the leaders, through their speeches, were trying to create fear in the minds of minorities. This is not right,” he said.
The Congress should stop “misleading people” for political mileage, he said.
