n 15 party MLAs meet at bungalow of Babu Kavlekar n Digambar asserts no contact with BJP leadership
the goan I network
MARGAO
Amidst strong rumours of at least three MLAs quitting the party, the Congress camp witnessed a flurry of activity on Monday evening, with as many as 15 CLP members attending a meeting at the bungalow of Opposition leader Babu Kavlekar, even as Margao MLA Digambar Kamat asserted that the BJP leadership has not established contact with him to return back to the party fold.
Political circles were abuzz with speculations that as many as the three Congress MLAs, including Digambar Kamat, Dayayand Sopte and Subhash Shirodkar were bracing up to quit the Congress to join the BJP. The speculation was further fueled by the statement made by Goa Forward Chief and TCP Minister Vijai Sardesai at Cuncolim on Sunday, that the Congress party should protect its flock from going astray instead of going to the town stating that the Congress will never seek the support of Goa Forward to form an alternate government.
Both Kavlekar and Digambar Kamat termed as rumours that the Congress is heading for a split. Digambar said that as many as 15 CLP members attended the meeting at the Opposition leader’s residence, adding that Shiroda MLA Subhash Shirodkar could not make it for the meeting given his preoccupation in his constituency.
“The Congress Legislature Party meeting was attended by 15 MLAs. We are intact. News that three MLAs will quit the party are all baseless. Even though Subhash Shirodkar was not present in the evening, he had come and signed the petition along with other MLAs. The Congress party leadership does not doubt any leader or MLA. We are all united,” Babu Kavlekar said.
Digambar Kamat, whose name has been doing the rounds in political circles in the last couple of months as a senior Congress MLA, planning to quit the Congress, told The Goan that the BJP leadership, including BJP President Amit Shah, is not in touch with him to return back to the party. “I have clarified in the past and I would like to again clarify that the BJP leadership has not established any contact with me. News that I along with two other MLAs will quit the Congress is just rumours,” he said. Goa Forward Supremo Vijai Sardesai, while addressing the party workers at Cuncolim on the occasion of the opening of the Goa Forward party office, had spoken about the imminent split in the Congress, going to the extent of saying that the Congress leadership should protect its flock from going astray.
