Goa Election 2022: Congress MLA Given Ticket From Curtorim Resigns, Likely To Join TMC

Aleixo had been serving as the working president of the Goa Pradesh Congress Committee. As per PTI sources, he may join the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress Party (TMC) soon.

New Delhi: In yet another jolt to Congress ahead of the Goa election, the party’s state working president, Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco, resigned as Member of the Legislative Assembly on Monday. He is expected to join the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC).

With this, the Congress party’s strength in the 40-member House has come down to two.

Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco, who represented the Curtorim Assembly segment in south Goa district, submitted his resignation to the Assembly Speaker’s office on Monday afternoon, news agency PTI reported. He also resigned from Congress later, PTI reported sources as saying.

Following his sudden exit from Congress, Aleixo is expected to join TMC. He landed in Kolkata today and will meet the party’s general secretary Abhishek Banerjee tomorrow, news agency ANI reported.

Notably, the Congress had last week declared its first list of eight candidates for the forthcoming state assembly election wherein Aleixo was mentioned to be representing the party in Curtorim again.

Recently, two other Congress leaders had resigned as MLAs in the state where the assembly election is expected to be held early next year.

Congress had reacted sharply to the fresh resignation, saying that people who betray the trust will face consequences and that voters from Aleixo Lourenco’s Assembly seat will teach him a “befitting lesson”.

Aleixo had been serving as the working president of the Goa Pradesh Congress Committee.

Congress party’s Goa desk in-charge Dinesh Gundu Rao reacted to the political development through a tweet where he wrote that the party was undeterred and unfazed.

“People who do things selfishly and betray trust will face the consequences. After taking whatever he could and misleading us till the last minute, if he could lie and cheat us, I'm sure the voters of Curtorim will teach him a befitting lesson,” he tweeted.

Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Digambar Kamat wrote that Congress has “successfully faced many storms, floods & tsunamis”.

“Our functionaries have strength & mettle to defeat opportunists. Congress Party is here to form Government in 2022. I am committed to lead the @INCGoa to a thumping victory,” the former Goa CM, who will be contesting the upcoming election from Margao seat, tweeted.

Earlier this month, former Goa chief minister Ravi Naik had resigned as Congress MLA. Before that, ex-CM Luizinho Faleiro had also quit the Congress and joined TMC after the Mamata Banerjee-led party decided to contest the Goa Assembly election.

In the 2017 Goa Assembly election, Congress had won 17 seats in the House and emerged as the single largest party. However, BJP, which had secured 13 seats, managed to quickly stitch alliances with some regional parties and independents to form government in the coastal state.

This time, TMC and Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) are also trying to secure power in Goa in their bid to enhance their respective influence across the states going to polls next year.

(With Agency Inputs)