In a similar move in July 2019, 10 Congress MLAs had switched over to the BJP.
Goa Tourism Minister Dilip Parulekar has sought time to respond to the Calling Attention motion moved by Bharatiya Janata Party legislator Michael Lobo on the issue of Playboy Club, which has sought permission to open a branch in the state.
Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani will skip the meeting of party office-bearers in Goa on Thursday due to ill-health.
A Bharatiya Janata Party legislator from Goa has threatened to go on a hunger strike if a Playboy nightclub is allowed to open in his state, claiming that it would promote prostitution in the tourist hub. Michael Lobo is opposing a nightclub proposed on Candolim beach -- the first of dozens of Playboy outlets that are being planned across the country.
With Sunday's result, in which the BJP managed one seat, the strength of Congress and its allies comprising the United Legislature Party rose to 21 in the 39-member House.\n\n
Before leaving for Mumbai on Tuesday, Parrikar held a series of meetings, including one with senior state ministers.
The lowest victory margin of 76 was recorded in St Andre constituency in North Goa, where Revolutionary Goans Party, a new political outfit in the state, made its debut by defeating BJP candidate and sitting MLA Francis Silveira. RGP candidate Viresh Borkar won the contest.
Goa Chief Minister Digamber Kamat, who earned the ire of Congress colleagues for his statement calling Gujarat counterpart Narendra Modi his 'best friend', on Saturday said the remark was taken out of context and expressed his commitment to secularism. "My statement has been taken out of context solely to create media and political hype," Kamat, who left the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2005 and joined the Congress, said, seeking to put a lid on the controversy over his remark.
The Trinamool Congress on Saturday promised to roll out a direct cash transfer scheme for women in Goa if it is voted to power in the state after the Assembly polls due in February next year.
Didi said her party doesn't divide people on religious lines even if they are Hindus, Muslims or Christians.
All the candidates checked in the resort on Tuesday evening with their luggage, indicating that the government formation may be a long haul.
The Opposition objected to the Governor's decision to invite the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha-Congress alliance to form the government.
The biggest jolt the Congress came in 2019 when a group of its 10 MLAs, led by then leader of opposition Chandrakant Kavlekar, left the party together and joined the ruling BJP.
The five vacancies -- Taleigao, Cambarjua, Benaulim, Margoa and Poinguinim -- resulted following the resignation of Bharatiya Janata Party legislators, reducing the then Manohar Parrikar government to a minority.
The Election Commission on Wednesday slapped show-cause notices on Bharatiya Janata Party leader Dilip Ghosh and Congress leader Supriya Shrinate for their offensive remarks against West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Kangana Ranaut respectively.
The Goa bench of the Bombay high court on Thursday upheld the Goa assembly speaker's order dismissing two petitions seeking the disqualification of 12 MLAs who left their respective parties and joined the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in 2019.
The entire thing was a planned conspiracy and the Congress is back again at its dirty and habitual game of destabilising duly elected governments, he said.
Even as authorities on Friday morning began demolishing the North Goa-based restaurant linked to the death of BJP leader Sonali Phogat for violation of norms, the action was stopped midway after its owner claimed that the Supreme Court gave a stay on it.
Goa Chief Minister Digamber Kamat has termed his Gujarat counterpart and firebrand Bharatiya Janata Party leader Narendra Modi as his 'best friend'. During a press briefing, Kamat said Modi was his 'best friend' and added that he will visit Gujarat if the state government invites him. "When I am in Delhi for any conference, I have Sheila Dikshit on one side and Narendra Modi on the other. He is my best friend," Kamat, who was earlier in the BJP, told media persons.
Former Uttarakhand CM and Congress leader Harish Rawat alleged that the state government wants an immediate discussion on the UCC bill despite nobody having a draft copy of it.
A BJP leader, on condition of anonymity, said all party MLAs have been asked not to leave the state.
Senior BJP leader and Patnagarh MLA KV Singh Deo and debutant from Nimapara assembly segment Pravati Parida took oath as deputy chief ministers.
Bowing to pressure from within the Bharatiya Janata Party against the United States-based Playboy club's move to open its facility in the coastal state, Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Monday said the application would not be considered by his government on "technical grounds".
On the basis of her committee's report, the UCC in Uttarakhand established mandatory registration for marriages and live-in relationships, banned polygamy, and provided equal inheritance rights for women.
The country now has six national parties - Bharatiya Janata Party, Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party, Communist Party of India-Marxist, NPP and AAP.
There is expected to be chaos in the Goa assembly when the Bharatiya Janata Party raises the issue of illegal mining. The issue after the Shah Commission began probing the illegalities pertaining to the mining industry in Goa.
Michael Lobo, who resigned as deputy speaker of the Goa Legislative Assembly, and three of the 10 MLAs who joined the BJP -- Chandrakant Kavlekar, Jeniffer Monserratte, Philip Neri Rodrigues -- were sworn in as new ministers.
The meeting, which began around 10:30 pm on Thursday, lasted for more than four hours and was held at the party's headquarters in New Delhi.
'If the charge is not given immediately, we will contest all upcoming elections, that is (Assembly) by-election and Lok Sabha polls, by fielding our candidates against official candidate of the government'
Congress on Saturday took a dig at Bharatiya Janata Party over the absence of its senior leaders, including party veteran L K Advani, at the Goa meet, wondering whether those who are unable to manage their own party can run the country.
Police have so far arrested her personal assistant Sudhir Sagwan, another aide Sukhwinder Singh, owner of the Curlies Restaurant Edwin Nunes and alleged drug peddler Dattaprasad Gaonkar.
Elections to the 40-member Goa Assembly are due in two months. Recent visits by Banerjee, Kejriwal and Prime Minister Narendra Modi heated up things in the otherwise "susegad" atmosphere in the small state.
With the entry of the Aam Aadmi Party and the Trinamool Congress in the poll arena, the election is expected to be a multi-cornered one this time.
The Bharatiya Janata Party is likely to make an in-depth analysis of its rout in the recent Lok Sabha election, during the party's `Chintan Baithak' which gets underway in Panaji, Goa, tomorrow
The chief minister has been in the US for treatment of a pancreatic ailment since March this year.
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