Congress leader Madkaikar resigns from Goa assembly ahead of polls, joins BJP

Mangalore Today News Network

Dec 22, 2016: In a setback to the Congress in poll-bound Goa, its legislator Pandurang Madkaikar on Thursday resigned as member of Goa legislative assembly.

 

Shortly after tendering his resignation, Madkaikar joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the presence of chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar.

“The resignation was submitted before the speaker which stands accepted,” state legislature secretary Nilkant Subhedar said.

Madkaikar, a three-term MLA from Cumbharjua constituency and former state transport minister, is the second Congress legislator after Mauvin Godinho to quit the party ahead of the Goa polls.

Godinho had on December 16 quit the Congress after resigning as a member of the state legislative assembly, and formally joined the ruling BJP.

“Madkaikar has filled the form for primary membership of the party,” BJP Goa unit chief Vinay Tendulkar said.

Tendulkar, however, refused to divulge if Madkaikar would contest on the party’s ticket from Cumbharjua seat, in the Goa assembly elections due early next year.

“I was not happy in the Congress. The Congress state leadership has failed completely,” Madkaikar said.

He claimed that there is no future for the Congress in the state and this is what prompted him to take the decision.