Kirti Azad inducted as TMC's Goa unit chief 11 days after Kiran Kandolkar's resignation

The Trinamool Congress (TMC), under the leadership of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, has appointed former Lok Sabha MP and party leader Kirti Azad as the state-in-charge of the party's Goa unit with immediate effect. The delegation comes to the fore after Azad joined Banerjee's party on 23 November 2021, after having switched from the Congress owing to a "lack of leadership". 

Earlier, he was associated with the BJP for 20 years before defecting to the Congress. After joining the TMC last year, Azad said, "I don't belong to any religion or caste. I'm just a team member who wishes to work for the welfare of the country." 

In December 2015, the cricketer-turned-politician was suspended from the BJP for openly targeting the then Union Finance Minister, late Arun Jaitely, over alleged corruption in Delhi and District Cricket Association. 

Kirti Azad appointed as TMC Goa chief after Kiran Kandolkar steps down

The leadership rejig comes to the fore after Kiran Kandolkar called it quits on April 27 while alleging that the humiliating defeat in Goa Assembly polls should be attributed to the failure of poll strategist Prashant Kishor.  Addressing a press conference, the former TMC chief claimed Prashant Kishor helped BJP to form the government after the polls. 

The resignation of Kandolkar and two other leaders, who had contested on the TMC symbol in Goa Assembly elections this year, came as a setback for the Mamata Banerjee-led party which is struggling to retain its flock in Goa since the poll debacle as the TMC drew a blank in its maiden electoral outing in the coastal state. 

"Prashant Kishor was responsible for the TMC's humiliating defeat in Goa polls. He was in Goa to blackmail the Congress and eventually ended up helping the BJP to form the government again," news agency PTI quoted Kandolkar as saying.

Kandolkar, along with Tarak Arolkar, and Sandeep Vazarkar resigned from the primary membership of the TMC party. Days earlier, Kandolkar's wife, Kavita, had also quit the TMC, owing to "pressure" from her supporters. Soon after Kavita Kandolkar's resignation, the Goa TMC tweeted that the party was restructuring the entire AITC Goa State Committee with immediate effect.