2 Congress MLAs join BJP, 3 more said to be in queue

NEW DELHI: With the BJP’s coalition government in Goa precariously placed at a time chief minister Manohar Parrikar is ailing, the party has poached on two MLAs of the Congress to ensure stability. BJP is said to be in talks with more Congress MLAs to quit and cross over.

Sixth term MLA Subash Shirodkar and Dayanand Sopte resigned on Tuesday as MLAs and quit the Congress. Within hours, the BJP flew them to Delhi, where they were ushered into the party by Union minister Piyush Goyal.

According to a BJP insider, three more Congress MLAs may join the party. He indicated that the defections would happen soon. BJP had first tried out the strategy, nicknamed Operation Lotus, in Karnataka, in 2008, to overcome the anti-defection law when the Yeddyurappa government did not have an absolute majority.


Vishwajit Rane, son of former Congress chief minister Pratap Sinh Rane, who defected to the BJP days after he was elected as the Congress MLA in March 2017, and who was later re-elected as a BJP MLA, is reportedly in touch with his former Congress colleagues to engineer more defections. Rane was instrumental in getting Shirodkar and Sopte to defect, according to a BJP insider. BJP plans to field all the defectors when bypolls will be triggered by their resignations.

Incidentally, the party has been officially advocating ‘one nation, one poll.’

After the two resignations, Congress and BJP have 14 MLAs each in the Goa assembly with the effective strength of the House reduced to 38. Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (3), Goa Forward Party (3) and three Independents have also been supporting the Parrikar government. NCP too has an MLA in the House.

BJP formed the government in 2017 by wooing the two regional parties and Independents after showcasing Manohar Parrikar, who resigned as defence minister to become the CM.