Former Chief Minister of Goa, Luizinho Faleiro, who quit the Congress party and joined Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Wednesday, revealed in an interview on Thursday, 30 September, that it was political strategist Prashant Kishor and his group (Indian Political Action Committee) I-PAC who approached him to join the TMC.
Faleiro was quoted as saying, "He (Kishor) didn't tell me to join the TMC but he did an analysis. People in Goa are angry with BJP. Mining has stopped. The economy is in a meltdown. There are no jobs. Goa is looking for an alternative. Didi is the only force. Despite the pressure, they abused her, used government agencies. The country needs a leader like Didi”, NDTV reported.
Faleiro had said earlier in the day that he hadn’t met Mamata Banerjee or Abhishek Banerjee and added that they are great leaders, not just of TMC but “great national leaders.” He added that he met I-PAC and Kishor and had an interaction just before he took his decision.
Asserting that it was a “very, very difficult decision” for him to leave Congress party, Faleiro claimed that “in the interest of Goa and in the interest of the country, to defeat the BJP, this is the only way for me to go forward and even now I am looking forward to help from I-PAC members. They are not from Bengal but different parts of the country”, NDTV reported.
This revelation brings out a conflict of interest over Kishor’s political function, as until recently, it was believed that Kishor was involved with the Congress in order to revitalize the party before the next Lok Sabha elections. But it now seems, as per Faleiro, that Kishor continues to work with both.
Notably, this also raises questions over the Opposition’s unity, in order to defeat the BJP.
Recently, Abhishek Banerjee said, "The Congress has to leave its armchair politics and social media politics and hit the streets" and that it "does not work, does not hit the street and loves to remain in the comfort of their homes.”
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Meanwhile, Faleiro has said that TMC will contest all 40 seats in Goa’s Assembly polls in February next year, without forging any alliance.
He also informed that the TMC Supremo will visit the state once the ongoing inauspicious 15-day ''pitru paksh'' period is over.
Despite emerging as the single largest party after the 2017 elections, the Congress party never wanted to form a government in Goa and so it did not stake a claim for it, Faleiro claimed.
He added that in order to have a roadmap for elections in Goa, a survey is being conducted in the state by I-PAC, the results of which would be available within a fortnight, NDTV reported.
To expose the BJP government in Goa, the TMC will release a "charge sheet" against the BJP government, Faleiro said.
(With inputs from NDTV)
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