There was so much backlash, my own friends started despising me: Ex-Cong MLA who quit TMC within month of joining

Says people of his constituency have asked him to join the Congress again; party’s decision awaited

Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco was named as the candidate from Curtorim in south Goa in the first list of candidates issued by the Congress in December | Facebook

Written by: Mayura Janwalkar

4 min readPanajiJan 17, 2022 02:32 PM IST First published on: Jan 17, 2022 at 02:32 PM IST

A day after he resigned from the Trinamool Congress (TMC), Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco, former Congress MLA from Curtorim in south Goa, said that he had faced “unbelievable” backlash from people in his constituency and he did not want to carry this “sin”.

“I hurt a lot of people due to my decision (taken) because of wrong judgement. I made a mistake and I say sorry,” Lourenco said with folded hands. “The people who trusted me felt hurt. I say sorry from the bottom of my heart.”

He said he was carried away by the TMC’s promise of a “new dawn”. The TMC’s catchphrase in Goa is “Goenchi Navi Sakal (Goa’s new dawn)”.

“When I took this decision (to join the TMC), I hurt a lot of people – my friends, well-wishers, my family, my close friends. We took this decision in the interest of my people because I was promised a new dawn. I thought there will be changes in the system… I thought this will be in the interest of our people. But there was so much backlash! People started asking why are you bringing an outside party (to Goa), why are you splitting votes, you will help someone else gain, why are you doing this… then I felt I have to rethink,” Lourenco said on Monday.

Lourenco said that he did not want to criticise anybody. “For 20 days (in TMC) only I know what I went through. But I fought hard. I was told many things but practically nothing happened.”

Notably, former BJP minister Micheal Lobo, who joined the Congress last week, has asked Lourenco to return to the grand old party.

Asked about his next political destination, Lourenco said, “My own friends started to despise me, friends said they don’t want to talk to me. People have told me I should join the Congress party. I will listen to my people.” Asked whether the Congress would be willing to take him back, he said, “We will see what decision they take. I have made a decision after taking people (from Curtorim) into confidence and they have told me to go to the Congress party. So, I will talk to them and see,” he said.

Lourenco’s exit had come as a major embarrassment for the Congress that was reduced to two MLAs in the Goa legislative assembly.

After his exit, AICC Goa desk in-charge Dinesh Gundu Rao had tweeted, “People who do things selfishly and betray trust will face the consequences… If he could lie and cheat us, I’m sure the voters of Curtorim will teach him a befitting lesson. Congress is undeterred and unfazed.”

Lourenco was named as the candidate from Curtorim in south Goa in the first list of candidates issued by the Congress in December. While, he was earlier in talks with the AAP, the Congress had also placated him by making him the working president of the party to retain him in the party-fold. However, he had still left the Congress to join the TMC in December.

On January 11, Lourenco had issued a video message. “There is no question of me leaving the TMC… there are rumours that I am joining another party. These are all rumours,” he had said in his message.