PANAJI: In a fresh trouble for the opposition Congress in Goa, the party on Sunday said five of its 11 MLAs in the state have gone "incommunicado", and accused two of these legislators - Michael Lobo and former chief minister Digambar Kamat - of "conspiring" and "hobnobbing with the ruling BJP to engineer a split" in the grand old party's legislative wing.
The party also removed Lobo from the post of Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly, which has 40 members.
The announcement about the legislators going incommunicado and the sacking of Lobo from the post was made by the party's Goa desk in-charge Dinesh Gundu Rao here late Sunday evening, on the eve of the assembly session.
The development comes amid speculation that some Congress MLAs may cross over to the saffron party.
Exactly three years ago on this day, a group of 10 MLAs from the Congress had left the party and switched over to the BJP.
The development also comes close on the heels of the political turmoil in neighbouring Maharashtra, where the ruling Shiv Sena split following a rebellion by senior leader Eknath Shinde, who became the chief minister after Uddhav Thackeray resigned from the top post in the last week of June.
Shinde and his supporting MLAs had gone "incommunicado" on June 20-21 before moving to Surat and then to Guwahati.
Addressing a press conference here, Rao said, "Five Congress MLAs - Michael Lobo, Digambar Kamat, Kedar Naik, Rajesh Faldesai and Delialah Lobo - have gone incommunicado."
However, five other legislators - Altone D'Costa, Sankalp Amonkar, Yuri Alemao, Carlose Alvares Ferreira, Rudolf Fernandes - are with the party, he said.
These five MLAs were even present at the press conference addressed by Rao.
"Sixth MLA, Aleixo Sequeira, is in touch with the Congress leaders and is very much with the party," he said.
"Lobo and Kamat were hatching a conspiracy by hobnobbing with BJP to engineer a split in the Congress. Therefore, the party has decided to remove Lobo from the post of the Leader of Opposition. Action will be taken against both Lobo and Kamat," Rao alleged.
In the Pramod Sawant-led dispensation, the ruling BJP has 20 MLAs, and the government also enjoys the support of five others - two from the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) and three Independents.
The grand old party had won 11 seats in the assembly polls held in February this year.
The Goa Foward Party (GFP) and Revolutionary Goans Party (RGP) had won one seat each, while the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had bagged two seats.
Rao said that if the five MLAs defect, they will have to face elections again as the group does not enjoy the two-thirds majority of the party's legislative wing.
He recalled that before the assembly polls, all the Congress candidates had taken a vow before God that they would not defect to any other party if they get elected.
"These MLAs have broken that vow," Rao said.
Party president Sonia Gandhi on Sunday asked senior party leader Mukul Wasnik to rush to Goa to "oversee latest political developments" in the state.
In a late night tweet, AICC general secretary, organization, K C Venugopal, said, "Congress President has asked Shri @MukulWasnik, MP to rush to Goa to oversee latest political developments in the state."
Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Sunday alleged that it is not democracy, but "money power" of the saffron party.
He was speaking to reporters in Pune after offering his prayers to Lord Vitthal in the temple town of Pandharpur in Solapur district on the occasion of Ashadhi Ekadashi.
Replying to a question about the speculation that some of the 11 Congress MLAs may join the BJP, Singh said there was a need to check how many of these legislators face cases by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Income Tax Department.
"If you know about this, you will come to know that this is not Loktantra (democracy), but it is dhantantra (money power) of the BJP," the former Madhya Pradesh chief minister alleged.
Asked about the current crisis in Sri Lanka, he said the island country's debt and inflation kept on soaring even as the foreign exchange came down, which led to the present scenario.
"We should also be alert. The situation that is prevailing in Sri Lanka is also there in India. The debt component, which was around Rs 36 lakh crore, has increased to Rs 80 lakh crore. Rupee depreciation is happening, iflation has reached its peak and the foreign exchange reserves are also dwindling," the Rajya Sabha member claimed.
"If Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the government in the Centre do not pay attention and take corrective steps, then Sri Lanka-like situation may prevail in India too," he added.