The Congress named Yuri Alemao, MLA from the Cuncolim region, as its new legislative party leader in Goa on Tuesday, just days after eight of its MLAs joined the BJP. The Congress has only three MLAs remaining in the 40-member Goa Assembly. According to official communication from the party, Yuri Alemao has been appointed as "Leader, Congress Legislature Party (CLP), Goa with immediate effect".
MLAs Digambar Kamat, Michael Lobo, Delilah Lobo, Kedar Naik, Rajesh Phaldesai, Sankalp Amonkar, Rudolf Fernandes, and Aleixo Sequeira joined the BJP on September 14.
For suspected anti-party conduct, the Congress had already dismissed Michael Lobo, the former leader of the CLP.
Following the Goa assembly elections in March this year, the BJP maintained its hold in the coastal state as they were able to get 20 MLAs while a few independent MLAs also supported the saffron party.
The defection came at a time when the Congress under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi is undertaking began the Bharat Jodo Yatra to take on the BJP-led Central government, trying to corner it over issues of economic inequality, social polarisation, and political centralisation.
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Who Is Yuri Alemao?
Yuri Alemao won the Cuncolim assembly seat in the Goa Assembly election 2022 by defeating BJP's Clafasio Dias. Yuri Alemao, a businessman, is a second-generation politician. His father Joaquim Alemao also represented Cuncolim constituency and was a former urban development minister.
In a statement after his party colleagues defected to the BJP, Alemao had said the party was not "dependent on the MLAs". He had also said he did not comes with "a price tag". and that he was "not a commodity to be purchased".
"Congress took all precautions. Party isn't dependent on the MLAs. Its values remains intact. I'm not a commodity to be purchased and don't have a price tag," Goa Congress tweeted on September 14, quoting Alemao.