Gherao MLAs if they defect this time: Goa Catholic priest to voters

In an open caution to assembly election candidates who emerge winners on March 10, renowned Catholic priest Fr. Eremito Rebello has warned against defection and switching political parties. Rebello in a video message on Tuesday also urged the people of Goa to gherao such MLAs who are keen on a switchover and compel them to resign and seek fresh mandate.

"I appeal to the people of Goa, if any MLA wins on one party ticket and then joins another, then all the people of Goa should gherao them, stage a dharna outside his house and force him to resign from the party he has joined and request the MLA to recontest again," Rebello said.

"People should not keep quiet this time. Everyone, those who are politicians, winners, losers and people, all the people of Goa should put them in place. If we do not, this will continue. We (the people) have to bring them on track, no one else will be able to do it," the Catholic priest also said.

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Rebello has been the face of the influential Catholic church in Goa, spearheading popular social movements, especially those which are anti-establishment in nature.

Catholics account for nearly 26 per cent of the state's population.

Defections, rampant party hopping by Goa's legislators were two of the key electoral issues ahead of the February 14 assembly elections. 13 out of the 17 Congress MLAs joined the BJP between 2017-2019. The party lost two more MLAs -- one each to the BJP and the Trinamool Congress -- between 2021-22. Two MLAs from the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party also joined the BJP in 2019.

According to Rebello, defection had a moral and ethical dimension and was not just a legal issue, though the Bombay High Court bench in Goa last week upheld the order of the Goa legislative assembly Speaker endorsing the switchover of 10 Congress MLAs and 2 MGP MLAs in 2019.

"After you are elected, if you leave the party for which people have voted for and join another party, you may say that the court of law can do nothing to us, but I want to say, this is not a matter of court, this is a matter of conscience," Rebello said.

"When people vote for you, they vote from their conscience. Therefore, morality and ethics is applicable here and not law. Hence, if you betray people and join other parties, then this time people will not stay quiet," the Catholic priest said.

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