Express News Service
KOLKATA: Former Goa CM and seven-term Congress MLA Luizinho Falerio on Wednesday joined the TMC in Kolkata along with nine others, including four Congress functionaries, a former MLA from MGP, and a Sahitya Academy award winner.
The mega induction ahead of the Goa Assembly elections slated to be held next year took place in presence of TMC’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee who announced that the Bengal’s ruling party would enter the fray alone in the western state.
Asked if TMC would enter into an alliance with AAP as the time is short, Banerjee said, “In Goa, TMC is going to fight the upcoming election by itself. Hope this puts a rest to all speculations.”
Pointing out that the TMC is emerging as BJP’s main opposition, the second-in-command in Bengal’s ruling party said, “Our fight is against the BJP and not the Congress. The difference between Congress and TMC is that we have been defeating the BJP for the last seven years. Congress cannot be sitting idle. They have to hit the streets. We will not be cowed down take the BJP head-on.”
Falerio tendered his resignation two days ago. “My political journey began 40 years ago from the western part of the state and now it has reached the coastal area in the east,” he said after joining the TMC. The former Goa CM arrived in Kolkata on Tuesday and before joining Bengal’s ruling party, he held an hour-long meeting with CM Mamata Banerjee at the secretariat.
Other than Falerio, former MGP MLA Lavoo Mamledar, two Congress general secretaries Yatish Naik and Vijay Vasudev Poi, two Congress secretaries Mario Pinto De Santana and Anand Naik, Sahitya Academy Award winner Shivdas Sonu Naik, former state youth wing vice president of Congress Rabindranath Falerio, environmentalist Rajemdra Shivdaji Kakodkar and prominent lawyer Antonio Monterio Clovis Da Costa joined the TMC.
“Today in presence of @MamataOfficial, EX Goa CM & 7-term Congress MLA @luzinhofalerio joined Trinamool Congress. He’d called for a CREDIBLE ALTERNATIVE for Goans & we’re pleased that he has chosen Mamata Banerjee’s leadership to work towards bringing a #NewDawn for Goa,” TMC tweeted.
