For Michael Vincent Lobo, Goa’s richest legislator and a successful businessman, it is time for “homecoming”.
After joining the Congress from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) just ahead of the assembly elections earlier this year, the Calangute MLA is back in the BJP this time along with seven other MLAs, including former Chief Minister Digambar Kamat.
Having started his career as a youth in the early 2000s Congress The worker, he was identified by BJP leader and MLA Dilip Parulekar. Lobo, who takes pride in being one of the “chosen boys of Manohar Parrikar”, is one of the prominent figures who defected from the Congress to the BJP in July, which was thwarted.
BJP sources told News18 that talks with the ruling party – BJP – in Goa have been going on for several months, but the timing should have been right.
Considered a strong leader of Bardez taluka of Goa, Lobo has been a three-time MLA. Along with his wife Delilah, he severed his 15-year-old ties with the BJP to join the Congress, as he was apparently denied a ticket from Siolim by the BJP.
Although Lobo denied this when the reporter met him during the Goa election campaign, he defended his wife, saying she had been the sarpanch of Para Panchayat for five years and worked hard for the people.
Read also | Goa: Congress sacks Michael Lobo as Leader of Opposition for ‘defection with BJP’
“There were people who used to say that I quit because my wife was not given a ticket. We both left BJP because the BJP that Manohar Parrikar had created and the future he had envisioned is no longer BJP.
July blow
Then came a setback in July, when the news of defection by a group of Congressmen The list started doing the rounds with Lobo and Kamat being at the top. Lobo had denied any such move at the time, but the Congress knew that his time with Lobo was over when he attended a press conference called by the Goa in-charge Dinesh Gundu Rao to show his unity. did not attend, amid speculation of defection. Lobo and Kamat were conspicuous by their absence and Rao told News18 that the plot to “finish the Congress” was led by Lobo, who was then the Leader of the Opposition.
“Michael Lobo and Digambar Kamat are conspiring against the party and colluding with the BJP to ensure a split in the Goa Congress and eliminate the opposition in Goa. He hatched a conspiracy to weaken the Congress party in Goa and ensure defection. But they can’t break us. We will rise like a phoenix again,” Rao had said.
Lobo was among the 36 Congress candidates in Goa who took a pledge to remain loyal to the Congress by standing before the deity at the Mahalaxmi temple in Goa.
Why did Goa’s richest candidate ‘Parrikar Boy’ Michael Lobo set a hat-trick in this election?Lobo had claimed that the BJP was no longer a “party of difference” in Goa and had lost its soul after Parrikar’s death. He had alleged that the present BJP under Sawant’s leadership was “commercialised” and those brought in by Parrikar were being sidelined.
Coming from a hotel industry background, Lobo was quick to draw an analogy along those lines. “It is like a restaurant that used to serve delicious, good food. It loses its flavor and essence once it becomes a popular addition. Same is the case with the BJP. It has lost its essence,” said Lobo on going Congress. He had earlier said while expressing his bitterness with the party.
September Twist
Cut to September and return of Michael Lobo to BJP.
Goa has finally become Congress free. Now, Goa will shine. AAP has only two MLAs in opposition and three Congress MLAs. He too will be dismissed soon,” Sandesh Sadhale, media cell convener of Goa BJP told News18.
richest couple
Lobo and his wife Delilah are the richest MLA couple in the coastal state with assets worth over Rs 90 crore. Lobo represents the Calangute constituency, which is known as the party capital of Goa and a center of beach tourism. He is the owner of several hotels, restaurants, entertainment venues and clubs throughout the region.
criminal trial
Interestingly, Lobo is facing several criminal cases filed by the Goa government for allegedly grabbing land and violating forest rules.
An FIR was registered against Lobo and Delilah on May 2 for allegedly filling land and cutting trees in Para. Town and Country Planning (TCP) Minister Vishwajit Rane had said that they were found to be in violation of Sections 17A and 17B of the TCP Act, 1974, leading to the destruction of a forest area. The couple has been accused of illegally converting a site in Marar into an Outline Development Plan (ODP) for settlement.
Read also | Goa minister Michael Lobo, another MLA left BJP ahead of elections
Again on June 10, a show-cause notice was issued to Lobo after the Goa government found that Hotel Nazri Resort and Hotel Baga Deck – both owned by Lobo – were built illegally. Town and Country Planning issued a notice and also said that it is a fit case for demolition.
However, in 2016, Lobo was chargesheeted in a case involving fraud and forged documents relating to Coastal Regulatory Zone clearance for the construction of a resort in the popular coastal village of Calangute.
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