Kamat said he is ‘shocked and stunned’ by party state in-charge Dinesh Gundu Rao’s statement about him being in touch with BJP
Panaji: Amid reports of Congress MLAs in Goa being in touch with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Digambar Kamat clarified that he is still a part of the Congress.
On Sunday, out of the total 11 Congress MLAs in the state, five — Michael Lobo, Digambar Kamat, Kedar Naik, Rajesh Faldesai and Delialah Lobo — went incommunicado, a senior party leader earlier said. The Congress subsequently removed Lobo from the post of Leader of Opposition and said the new LoP will be named before the Assembly session. Congress’s Goa desk in-charge Dinesh Gundu Rao on Sunday alleged that “Lobo and Kamat were hatching a conspiracy by hobnobbing with the BJP to engineer a split in the Congress”.
When asked about this, Kamat said that he is “shocked and stunned” by party state in-charge Dinesh Gundu Rao’s statement.
“I saw a video of the presser of Dinesh Gundu Rao which is being circulated. I am shocked and stunned; it has hurt me beyond words. Dinesh Rao was at my place on Saturday night, I told him my position then,” Kamat said.
“Because of your humiliation towards me after the elections, my workers are angry, I am also deeply hurt. So, for the time being, I said, I am not going to accept any responsibility. Once I am fit, we will see. Rumours about me joining BJP have been spreading since 2017. If I wanted to go, I’d have gone. No one ca, n stop me. But still, I led the party from the front, I went all out. And suddenly, they changed me from LoP when the results came in. I don’t know why he made such a statement. I am in Congress, you can see my performance,” he added.
As on Monday morning, five of the Congress MLAs, in the 40-member Goa Assembly, were with the party, while five others remained out of reach. Another MLA Aleixo Sequeira was at home and pledged his support to the party.
(With inputs from ANI)
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