Former Congress leader from Goa Luizinho Faleiro on Monday said he will be working at both the local and national level of the Trinamool Congress. He said he had “nothing against Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi”, and said more joinees were expected into the party. Sources said the leader’s official joining into the party may take place on Wednesday.
Faleiro, in an exclusive interview to CNN-News18 said he had been a part of several movements during his career, like the language movement, and will start another new one. “I am a fighter since my childhood,” he said.
He said more people were expected to join the TMC in the coming weeks. The former Goa chief minister had resigned as member of the state Legislative Assembly on Monday. Sources said Faleiro and a few others are expected to fly to Kolkata on Tuesday.
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Minutes before resigning, Faleiro praised West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC head Mamata Banerjee and said the country needs a leader like her to take on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Faleiro, who represented the Navelim Assembly seat and was recently made the Goa Congress’s campaign committee chief in the wake of the state polls due next year, submitted his resignation to Assembly Speaker Rajesh Patnekar. With his resignation, the Congress’s strength in the 40-member House has been reduced to four.
The Congress had won 17 seats in the 2017 state Assembly elections, but later a number of MLAs resigned from the party. In July 2019, 10 MLAs quit the party and joined the ruling BJP.
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“I met certain leaders, they said yes, you are a Congressman, I am a Congressman for last 40 years, I will continue to be a Congressman and part of Congress family…,” Faleiro told reporters at his private residence in Margao, about 30 km from Panaji. “This family has to come together to fight Modi. Mamata is the one who has given a fight to Narendra Modi and his juggernaut,” he said.
He further said the “Mamata formula” has won in West Bengal. “She has been able to stand up…she is a street-fighter,” the 70-year-old leader said. Faleiro said Goa is also going through difficult times.
With inputs from Herman Gomes, Marya Shakil, and PTI.
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