Goa Congress crisis: Michael Lobo denies 'hobnobbing' with BJP; asserts 'still with the party'

Following the disqualification filed against him, Congress MLA Michael Lobo stated on Monday night that he remains a member of the party. The remark was made during a meeting convened by Congress leader Mukul Wasnik.

Lobo, denied any "hobnobbing" with the ruling BJP and asserted that he is still the Congress party and merely attending a press conference cannot be a ground for disqualification.

"I have made my stand very clear. I have told him that I am with the Congress party. I am elected with the Congress party... It is our term of five years. We have to be with the party," Lobo said.

"I have told him (Wasnik) to discuss the issues individually. I am not trying to divide the Congress," he added.

The party initiated action against Lobo on Sunday night after he failed to attend a press conference.

"We are all together. I have told Dinesh Gundu Rao and GPCC president Amit Patkar that whatever is happening since I got elected as MLA and CLP leader... the number of cases filed against me. I told them 'I won't be able to do justice with the post (CLP)' and asked them to give the CLP post to any other MLA among us," he said.

We are with the Congress party. I had told Dinesh Gundu Rao (Goa AICC incharge) that I'm not interested to continue as the LoP because there are various issues raised against me by the govt, so I said it'll be difficult & embarrassing for others; choose someone else: Michael Lobo pic.twitter.com/nZW1kz2pDl

— ANI (@ANI) July 11, 2022

"There is no ground for disqualification. It is for the Speaker to decide," he said, stressing that 'doubts' had been cleared of the minds of Congress leaders.

Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) president Amit Patkar said on Monday that the party would seek the disqualification of its senior legislators Michael Lobo and Digambar Kamat, accused of conspiring with the BJP to engineer the defection of eight of its 11 MLAs in the state Legislative Assembly.

“We are filing a disqualification petition against two of our senior leaders. They have voluntarily given up the membership of their party and on the basis of that, we are filing a disqualification petition,” Patkar said. His statement came hours after both Lobo and Kamat declared that they were still very much with the Congress.

Congress alleged that Lobo along with Digambar Kamat hatched a conspiracy to engineer defections in "total coordination" with the BJP.

On Sunday, Congress MLA and wife of Michael Lobo, Delilah Lobo was seen leaving the residence of CM and BJP leader Pramod Sawant.