Speaking to reporters on Monday, Mr. Lobo claimed there was nothing wrong with the party. (file)
Panaji:
Five Goa Congress MLAs, who went out of touch a day ago, on Monday attended the proceedings of the state assembly on the first day of the monsoon session, claiming that there is “nothing wrong” in the opposition party.
A senior party leader had earlier said that on Sunday, five of the total 11 Congress MLAs from the state – Michael Lobo, Digambar Kamat, Kedar Naik, Rajesh Faldesai and Deliala Lobo – had gone incommunicado.
The Congress later removed Mr. Lobo as the Leader of the Opposition in the 40-member state assembly.
Congress’ Goa desk in-charge Dinesh Gundu Rao had alleged that “Lobo and Kamat are conspiring with the BJP to create a split in the Congress”. Speaking to reporters on Monday, Mr. Lobo claimed there was nothing wrong with the party.
“Nothing is wrong. I don’t know what the problem is. All the Congress MLAs were together. We had gone to South Goa for a meeting on Sunday. They (Congress leaders) again wanted to hold another press conference, which had to be done. There was no need, so we did not attend,” said Mr. Lobo, whose wife Delilah Lobo is also a Congress MLA.
Mr. Lobo said that he won the state election on a Congress ticket and he stood with the party.
Upon his replacement as Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Lobo said he had told the party that he was not interested in continuing as the LoP.
Former Chief Minister Digambar Kamat and his Congress colleague Rajesh Faldesai also said that they are with the party.
Two Congress MLAs said they were not at the party office on Sunday due to personal commitments.
Talking to reporters outside the assembly premises, Kamat said that he is with the Congress.
“I met Dinesh Gundu Rao on Saturday. I told him that I was hurt by the humiliation I faced in the party,” the former chief minister said. Rumors of him joining the BJP were doing the rounds since 2017.
“I stayed with the Congress. I led the party during the assembly elections (early this year), but after the elections I was not given the post of Leader of Opposition,” Kamat said.
MLA Rajesh Faldesai also said that he was with the party and had informed Goa Congress chief Amit Patkar about his absence (from the party office on Sunday), as he was at home due to personal reasons.
Mr. Faldesai said that rumors were being spread that he had met Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Sunday.
Before the assembly session began, a senior Congress leader said that he had taken five other MLAs, who were with the party, to an undisclosed location to avoid ‘split’ in the organization and they would attend the session.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)