A day after quitting the Congress, former Goa chief minister Luizinho Faleiro on Tuesday arrived in Kolkata, where he is likely to join the Trinamool Congress, party sources said.
Former chief minister of Goa and Congress veteran Luizinho Faleiro, resigned as an MLA and a primary member of the party on Monday claiming the state party unit is run by a 'coterie' of leaders even as he praised Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee saying the country needs a leader like her to take on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Two days after quitting the Congress, former Goa chief minister Luizinho Faleiro joined the Trinamool Congress on Wednesday.
Trinamool Congress's (TMC) Rajya Sabha MP and former Goa chief minister Luizinho Faleiro has tendered his resignation from the Upper House of Parliament, party sources said on Tuesday.
The Election Commission of India has announced that elections for 10 Rajya Sabha seats in Goa, Gujarat, and West Bengal will be held on July 24.
The West Bengal chief minister is in Goa and expected to interact with party workers and the fishermen community.
In yet another jolt the Congress ahead of the Goa Assembly polls, the party's state working president, Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco, resigned as member of the legislative assembly on Monday, reducing the party's strength to two in the 40-member House.
Among the Rajya Sabha members who are the new vice-chairpersons are PT Usha, S Phangnon Konyak, Fauzia Khan, Sulata Deo, V Vijaysai Reddy, Ghanshyam Tiwari, L Hanumanthaiah and Sukhendu Sekhar Ray.
The Bharatiya Janata Party's decision to nominate Ananta Rai 'Maharaj', who has been demanding a separate state of 'Greater Cooch Behar' to be carved out of West Bengal, as its candidate for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections from the state, has kicked off a fresh storm with the ruling Trinamool Congress accusing the saffron party of fanning separatism in the state.
Mamata's 'there is no United Progressive Alliance (UPA)' remark after a meeting in Mumbai with Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, an ally of Congress in Maharashtra, evoked a strong response from the party, currently being led by interim president Sonia Gandhi.
Chidambaram, who is the Congress' senior election observer for the assembly polls next year, asserted that the Trinamool Congress' entry into Goa "appears to be an imposition from the top that is based in West Bengal" and said he does not know the Mamata Banerjee-led party's motive in trying to start a unit in Goa by "encouraging defections" from other parties.
Kumar leaves in the midst of assembly polls in five states and ahead of the February 20 election in Punjab.
In their resignation letter to All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) chief Mamata Banerjee, the departing leaders said, 'We had thought that the AITC is a secular party but with deep regret, we would like to bring to your notice that AITC has tried to divide Goans on the basis of religion by aligning with Sudan Dhavalikar.'
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.
In the 2017 state assembly polls, the Congress had emerged as the single largest party by winning 17 seats.
The MGP, which had won three seats in the 2017 polls, is currently left with only one MLA after two of its legislators joined the ruling BJP.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was the Trojan horse of the Bharatiya Janata Party and should be kept out of all efforts to cobble up an opposition platform ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, senior Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury alleged on Wednesday.
In the 2012 assembly elections, Goa had recorded an impressive 81.8 per cent voting.
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.
The Association of Democratic Reforms said Goa has set a unique record, which is "unparalleled" in the history of Indian democracy.
Naik, 71, is the first senior Congress leader to resign after Rahul Gandhi announced on Sunday in his concluding speech that he wants to give the younger generation a chance to come forward and lead the party.
It is a record that the saffron party has created, where the majority of its legislators belonged to the minority community.
In Goa, where Assembly elections are a few months away, a delegation of Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders led by Lok Sabha member Saugata Roy and including former Union Minister Babul Supriyo and the party's vice president Luizinho Faleiro met Governor P S Sridharan Pillai and requested him to immediately seek resignation from the chief minister and announce investigation by an independent agency.
The TMC, which is keen to leave a mark in its outing in Goa, had suggested a broad alliance but not much has moved on the proposal due to competing interests and apparent lack of faith between the opposition parties.
The central government was aware of illegal immigration in Mizoram and would take measures to check it, Congress President Sonia Gandhi said on Monday.
'This is the first time in Goa politics that a communal leadership is being foisted on Goa's people.'
Chidambaram, who is the Congress' senior election observer for the Goa Assembly polls, also hit out at the Trinamool Congress for its barbs at the Congress for not forging an alliance with it, saying the party continued to poach Congress leaders, despite making an offer of a tie-up.
From the 'group of 23' leaders, who had written letter to Gandhi seeking Congress' overhaul, Azad and Sharma continue to be regular members of the CWC,
Beset by troubles on multiple fronts within, the Congress faces the danger of imploding with party veterans Ghulam Nabi Azad and Kapil Sibal on Wednesday sharply questioning the decision-making process, saying there are 'no monopolies', and demanded convening an urgent meeting of the Congress Working Committee for a 'dialogue'.
Rane did not rule out the possibility of joining the BJP, saying 'all options are open'.
In his first formal interaction with the office-bearers of the revamped All India Congress Committee on Saturday, Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi said the party would be working towards giving 50 per cent representation to women in party posts.
Amid speculation that he would return to Goa politics, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Saturday kept everyone guessing by describing himself as a "party man" who will work as per the directions of party leaders.
A potpourri of political parties are in the fray in Goa.
Rahul Gandhi on Thursday held consultations with Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde and Members of Parliament from northeast to discuss steps to end the harassment of people.
Mounting a blistering attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Rahul Gandhi on Friday said the demonetisation drive launched by him was "firebombing of 99 per cent honest people" and not a "surgical strike".
Parrikar returned to Goa as the chief minister for the fourth time, though he could not complete full terms in his earlier stints.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances