india

Updated: Oct 16, 2018 22:50 IST

Two lawmakers from Goa quit the Congress on Tuesday in a major blow to the party, which is trying to cobble together numbers at a time when the political situation in the state is fluid because of the ill health of chief minister Manohar Parrikar.

The two MLAs, Dayanand Sopte and Subhash Shirodkar, sent their resignation letters to the state Congress leadership after a meeting in New Delhi with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Amit Shah.

Union minister Shripad Naik, Goa BJP president Vinay Tendulkar and health minister in the BJP-led Goa coalition government Vishwajit Rane, too, were present.

“Both the strong leaders will strengthen the hands of chief minister Manohar Parrikar in Goa,” Union minister Piyush Goyal said. Parrikar, who was admitted in New Delhi’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences for almost a month, returned to Goa on Monday and is continuing treatment at home.

Over the last few weeks, the Congress has been demanding Goa governor Mridula Sinha to invite the party to form the government. Before Tuesday, it was the single largest party in the 40-member state assembly with 16 lawmakers. With the exit of Sopte and Shirodkar, its strength is down to 14, the same as the BJP.

The exits have also lowered the assembly’s strength to 38, and the majority mark to 19.

Sopte, who was earlier in the BJP, joined the Congress ahead of last year’s Goa assembly elections and defeated former chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar. Shirodkar was elected from South Goa.

Parsekar appeared upset with the developments. “They (the electorate) had high hopes of him (Sopte) ... Does it seem like these people will re-elect him ?” he asked. Kishor Naik Gaonkar, a political analyst, too said, “The BJP has its task cut out in securing the re-election of these two.”

The resignations came as a shock to the Congress.

“Till yesterday, they were with us. They attended the Congress legislature party meeting. But since Monday night, we could not get through to them,” said Goa Congress president Girish Chodankar. The two MLAs were wooed by Vishwajit Rane, a former Congress MLA, alleged the Congress’s Goa in-charge, A Chellakumar.

“I got a message that Vishwajit Rane ... has bargained with the BJP high command that if he got the two Congress MLAs, he should be made the chief minister,” Chellakumar said. Rane did not respond to phone calls.

The BJP-led coalition has a clear majority in the assembly with support from allies.

Said Vijai Sardesai, the leader of the GFP: “The Congress kept claiming it was the single largest party. Do you think the BJP was going to sit tight? The Congress had promised a political earthquake, but has itself become the victim of one,” Sardesai said.