A day after he quit the Congress party and the Goa Assembly, three-time legislator Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenço joined the Trinamool Congress on Tuesday in the presence of party supremo Mamata Banerjee and national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee in Kolkata even as the Goa Congress decried Mr. Lourenco’s “betrayal”.
Mr. Lourenco, MLA from the Curtorim constituency in South Goa and party Goa working president, dealt a severe blow to his parent party with his decision, which has now whittled down the Congress’ strength in the 40-member Assembly election to a mere two MLAs.
Last week, the Congress had included Mr. Lourenco’s name in the first list of eight candidates in the Assembly poll slated to be held in February, 2022.
Remarking that the TMC was the only party capable of taking on the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Goa, he censured the party’s vacillation in formulating a concrete strategy against the BJP which had forced him into quitting the party.
“Since 2012, I had taken the challenge to fight the BJP. Yet, when I used to ask my party of their strategy, all that the higher-ups advocated was waiting and more waiting…instead, the TMC has already managed to formulate an alliance with the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP),” said Mr. Lourenco, urging the people of Goa to give the TMC a chance in the forthcoming election.
A stunned Congress lashed out at him with former Chief Minister and veteran Congressman Digambar Kamat remarking that Mr. Lourenco had betrayed the party which had spoiled him and overlooked his many faults.
Stating that the party’s fortunes would not be affected by his defection, Mr. Kamat likened Mr. Lourenco’s exit to that of “a son in the family who is a drug addict” and “does not give up his addiction” despite the best efforts to save him.
“Lourenco has taken a suicidal step…In a such situation, the blame does not lie with the family. His going is a blessing in disguise. If more people want to leave, they are free to do so. I will lead the party from the front,” said Mr. Kamat, who is the leader of the Opposition.
Mr. Kamat said the Congress had faced many political “storms, floods and tsunamis” and that the party’s loyal functionaries had the strength and the mettle to defeat opportunists like Mr. Lourenco.
“The party had given him too much importance and had pampered him…we forgave him despite his meetings with BJP election in-charge Devendra Fadnavis and Aam Aadmi Party representatives,” said Mr. Kamat, adding that the Congress would field a fresh face from Curtorim and win the seat while the party itself would triumph the 2022 Assembly election.
Goa’s political arena continued to be plagued by the “defection malaise” after MGP leader Premendra Shet joined the BJP along with his supporters in the presence of Chief Minister Pramod Sawant.
Mr. Shet attributed his exit from Goa’s oldest regional party to its “unnatural alliance” with the TMC. He is likely to be the BJP’s candidate from the Maem Assembly seat in North Goa.
