AAP terms ex-Goa CM Ravi Naik's exit as Congress' 'New year gift' to BJP ahead of polls

Taking at Congress, AAP on Tuesday, claimed that the grand old party had sold another MLA to BJP as ex-CM Ravi Naik joined BJP in the presence of CM Pramod Sawant and ex-Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis. Terming it a 'New Year's gift', AAP stated that Congress was in cahoots with BJP. The coastal state, along with Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Punjab go to the polls in February 2022.

AAP: 'New year gift to BJP'

Ex-CM Ravi Naik joins BJP

On Tuesday, ex-Goa CM Ravi Naik resigned as the party MLA from the state Assembly reducing the Congress' strength to three in Goa. Later, Naik joined BJP in the presence of Fadnavis and Sawant in Panaji. Naik's younger son Roy Naik claimed that he has requested his father to join the BJP. Prior to Naik, Congress had already lost ex-CM Luizinho Faleiro to Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress. Moreover, Fadnavis claimed veteran Congressman and former chief minister Pratapsingh Rane might join the ruling party soon. 

"The Congress in Goa was a nano party with four MLAs. Four persons can fit in a small car like Nano. Now it has been reduced to an auto (autorickshaw) party as three MLAs are left with them. Soon with Pratapsingh Rane's blessings, the Congress will be reduced to a bicycle party, with only two persons remaining," said Fadnavis. Rane's son Vishwajit Rane is currently Goa's Health minister.

Goa Congress defection

In 2019, 10 of 15 Congress MLAs merged with the ruling BJP, increasing the saffron party's strength to 27 in the 40-seat house. The Congress, which had emerged as the single-largest party after 2017 Assembly polls in the coastal state, was reduced to five legislators.  With a group of ten Congress MLAs in Goa led by Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Chandrakant Kavlekar, Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant announced that two-thirds of the Congress Legislative Party — enough to avoid action under the anti-defection law — merged with the BJP. The party had cried foul that it had not been invited to form the government in Goa after the February 2017 Assembly polls despite it emerging as the single largest party.