Expected to face Chief Minister Pramod Sawant in his constituency of Sanquelim once again, is Congress candidate Dharmesh Saglani, who Sawant had defeated in 2017 by a margin of 2,099 votes. (Representational)FORMER CONGRESS MLA Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco, who joined the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in Goa in December, on Sunday resigned from the party within a month of joining it.
While the Congress leadership in Goa had torn into Lourenco when he left the party on December 20, four days after he was declared the party candidate from Curtorim, on Sunday former minister Micheal Lobo extended an invitation to Lourenco to return to the party. Lobo, a political heavyweight in North Goa’s Bardez taluka, quit the BJP and joined the Congress on January 11.
The TMC that entered Goa’s political race for the February 14 assembly polls in September, 2021, had so far inducted three sitting MLAs into the party – two who resigned from the Congress and one from the NCP.
Lourenco, who joined the TMC on December 21, however, resigned on Sunday from the party’s primary membership. His exit comes days after former Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party MLA Lavoo Mamledar also quit the TMC. Mamledar also joined the Congress this week.
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In a statement issued on Sunday, Mahua Moitra, TMC MP and Goa state incharge, said: “AITC has received a letter from Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco resigning from primary membership of the party. We had welcomed him into the party as we have countless others. Now that he wishes to leave, we wish him well.”
Lobo tweeted, “To strengthen the @INCGoa and to boost our purpose of forming Congress government in 2022 in Goa, I request Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco to join us back.”
Lourenco was not available for comment.
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