Goa rift: Congress files disqualification petitions against Kamat, Lobo

On Sunday, a split in the Congress seemed imminent with some of its legislators skipped a crucial meeting met CM Pramod Sawant

Congress filed disqualification petitions against former CM Digambar Kamat and former leader of opposition Michael Lobo, a day after All India Congress Committee's Goa in-charge Dinesh Gundu Rao named them as "conspirators" planning to split its 11-member legislative party.

"There was a move to split congress MLAs. They couldn’t attain a two-thirds majority. That is why their stand is changed today. BJP wanted to repeat the 'Maharashtra' pattern in Goa. But we ensured that they don’t get success. We stopped the defection," state Congress president Amit Patkar told reporters after submitting the petition to Speaker Ramesh Tawadkar.

On Sunday, a split in the Congress seemed imminent with some of its legislators including Lobo and his wife Delilah skipping a crucial meeting of the legislative party and camping at the official residence of Chief Minister Pramod Sawant. However, Patkar claimed that timely intervention ensured that the conspirators did not get enough numbers to split the party.

Also read | Goa Congress says seven MLAs with party as of now; Mukul Wasnik in coastal state to control situation

Even as the party high command dispatched senior AICC official Mukul Wasnik to Goa to take stock of the situation arising from the crisis, both Lobo and Kamat attended the first day of the ongoing monsoon session and claimed they continue to be a part of the Congress.

"I am with the party. I am attending the session too," Lobo told reporters. The Congress legislative party during a meeting late on Sunday had stripped Lobo of the post of Leader of Opposition. A new leader of the Congress's legislature wing is expected to be appointed soon.

Kamat told reporters at the state assembly complex that he was hurt by the manner in which Congress had sidelined him post the assembly results earlier this year, but added that for now, he continues to be a Congressman.

"I had missed the second CLP because I was at home. Every time there is a political crisis, my name is always first when it comes to a fictitious rebellion. I am here with the party, but I was offended by the comments made by Dinesh Gundu Rao," Kamat said.

While accusing Kamat and Lobo of being conspirators, the AICC official on Sunday had said he felt let down that a senior party leader like the former Chief Minister was trying to split his own party.

Wasnik who arrived in Goa to take stock of the situation said that he would comment on the issue only after he meets party leaders.

Reacting to the developments, state BJP president Sadanand Shet Tanavade said that the BJP had no role to play in the rift in the Congress party. "It is for them to handle. No one from their party has approached me yet," Tanavade told reporters.