Alemao (72), who represented the state's Benaulim Assembly seat, also told reporters that he would formally join the TMC later in the day, in the presence of Mamata Banerjee, who is in the coastal state for a two-day visit.
Churchill Alemao, the NCP's lone MLA in the state, said on Monday that he had combined the party's state legislative branch with the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress ahead of the Goa Assembly elections. Alemao (72), who represented the state's Benaulim Assembly seat, also told reporters that he would formally join the TMC later in the day, in the presence of Mamata Banerjee, who is in the coastal state for a two-day visit. The TMC has already said that it will contest for all 40 seats in the next state Assembly elections.
On Monday, Alemao (72) told Assembly Speaker Rajesh Patnekar that he had united the Nationalist Congress Party's (NCP) Goa legislative wing with the TMC. After the meeting, Patnekar told reporters why he should quit as MLA. He said he would remain an MLA and has merged the party's legislative wing with the TMC.
Alemao argued that as the lone NCP MLA, he represented 100% of the party's legislative branch, and hence the merger is lawful under the Indian Constitution's 10th Schedule. He also stated that more than two-thirds of the party's parliamentary unit could be merged. He was perfect in this situation.
We are delighted to announce that MLA Churchill Alemao has subsumed the legislative group of NCP in Goa with the All India Trinamool Congress and shall hereafter, function as a legislative group of in Goa Legislative Assembly. pic.twitter.com/CzluOW8GJO
— AITC Goa (@AITC4Goa)When approached, NCP national spokesman Nawab Malik told PTI that individuals frequently leave one party and join another during election season. He stated that it is Alemao's option to attend the TMC. He had voted for our party in the last election. He went on to say that it doesn't matter if he resigns or not at this point because the election is just around the way. The Sharad Pawar-led NCP won one seat in the 40-member Goa Assembly in the 2017 elections.
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The Congress had emerged as the single largest party in Goa. However, the BJP has formed a coalition with certain regional parties and independents to create a government in the coastal state.