In the 40-member Goa Assembly, the Congress has 11 legislators and the BJP has 20. Ahead of joining the BJP, eight Congress MLAs met Chief Minister Pramod Sawant at the Assembly Complex.
As per an ANI report, the eight MLAs who met CM Sawant are Digambar Kamat, Michael Lobo, Delilah Lobo, Rajesh Phaldesai, Kedar Naik, Sankalp Amonkar, Aleixo Sequeira and Rudolf Fernandes.
After holding a meeting with Congress Legislature Party, Lobo told ANI that they "will join BJP", however no official confirmation from the Sawant has come forward yet.
This development came amid the Congress leader Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Yatra, which is being held to combat the BJP-led Centre and awaken the country's people to the dangers of economic inequalities, social polarisation, and political centralisation.
The Yatra includes Padayatras, rallies, and public meetings which will be attended by the senior Congress leaders including Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.
In recent times, several leaders have quit Congress.
On September 4, Gujarat Youth Congress President Vishwanathsinh Vaghela resigned from his post which is considered to be a major jolt for the party. On September 2, party leader Rajinder Prasad, who is also the son of late Master Beli Ram Sharma from Nowshera, Rajouri, resigned from all posts and the primary membership of the party. Prasad blamed the 'coterie' system for being a reason for the 'demise' of the party.
The exit of veteran leader Ghulam Nabi Azad from the Congress, months before the upcoming Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh Assembly polls, as well as the general elections in two years' time, dealt a huge blow to party.
On 24 August, Jaiveer Shergill resigned as the party spokesperson. In a resignation letter to the interim Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, Shergill has said that Congress' decision-making is “influenced by the self-serving interests".
Earlier this year in May, senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal, a prominent face of the G-23 group of dissenting leaders, resigned from the party and filed nomination papers for the Rajya Sabha elections as an independent candidate backed by the Samajwadi Party (SP).
Former Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar joined BJP, five days after quitting the grand old party. Former Union Law Minister Ashwani Kumar in February also resigned from Congress after a long association of 46 years with the party.
Back in May, Gujarat Patidar leader Hardik Patel joined BJP after he quit Congress saying that he felt that he was being "ignored." Earlier in July 2019, 10 Congress MLAs had switched over to the BJP.
(With inputs from agencies)
