2 Goa Congress legislators leave for Delhi; may join BJP
Panaji, Oct 15 : Two Goa Congress legislators Dayanand Sopte and Subhash Shirodkar Monday midnight left for Delhi amidst speculations that they may join the BJP.
A senior BJP leader said they were likely to meet BJP president Amit Shah in the national capital.
"Both the Congress MLAs will be resigning from Congress party on Tuesday and joining the BJP," a senior BJP leader told PTI.
While Sopte, who defeated former BJP chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar in 2017 State legislative assembly election, represents Mandrem constituency, Shirodkar was elected on a Congress ticket from Shiroda constituency.
Both the legislators left by a midnight flight to Delhi. Goa Health Minister and BJP MLA Vishwajit Rane also left for Delhi, little before their departure.
"I am going on a business trip," Sopte told reporters at the airport.
Similarly, when Shirodkar was asked whether he was joining the BJP, he responded, "You will come to know, if I do it".
Goa is currently witnessing hectic political activities with Congress party petitioning President Ram Nath Kovind, seeking his intervention to ask Goa Governor Mridula Sinha to call them to form the government.
BJP state core committee and party's legislature party also met in Panaji during the day.
The meetings are happening at the backdrop of poor health condition of Chief minister Manohar Parrikar, who is currently being treated by doctors from state-run Goa Medical College and Hospital at his residence at Dona Paula.
When contacted, All India Congress Committee Secretary A Chellakumar said he had spoken to both the legislators Sopte and Shirodkar who had assured him that they were not resigning from the party.
"I spoke to both of them Monday evening and they have refused that they are resigning," he said.
Congress currently has 16 MLAs in the Goa Legislative Assembly. Their strength would be reduced to 14 if two legislators resign.
BJP is having 14 MLAs while three each are from Goa Forward Party, Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party and Independents. One legislator is from the NCP.
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Kulkarni became victim of BJP conspiracy as he grew politically in North Karnataka: Shivakumar
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Bengaluru (PTI): Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar claimed on Friday that Congress MLA Vinay Kulkarni, who was sentenced to life imprisonment in a murder case, has become a victim of a BJP conspiracy because he was growing politically in the north Karnataka region.
Stating that he has faith in Kulkarni and believes he has done nothing wrong, he said the former minister will fight the case legally by filing an appeal.
A Bengaluru court on Friday sentenced Kulkarni and fifteen others to life imprisonment in the BJP leader Yogeshgouda Goudar murder case.
On Wednesday, Santhosh Gajanan Bhat, Judge of the Special Court for cases involving elected representatives, convicted Kulkarni and others under various IPC sections, including criminal conspiracy and murder.
“I respect the court. But there was a big conspiracy in this case. When the police were about to file a B-report, the CBI was given the case to harass him (Kulkarni). Vinay Kulkarni has become a victim of a BJP conspiracy as he was growing politically in north Karnataka,” Shivakumar said.
Speaking to reporters in New Delhi, he said Kulkarni has several legal options.
“I have spoken to his family. He swore on God and told me that he had not done anything wrong. I still have faith in him. I feel that he has not done anything wrong. He has an opportunity to file an appeal,” he said, adding that he stands with Kulkarni’s family and supporters and believes he will get justice.
The case pertains to the killing of Goudar, a BJP zilla panchayat member, in Dharwad on June 15, 2016. Kulkarni was a minister at the time. Hired assailants allegedly attacked and hacked Goudar to death in his gym in Saptapur, Dharwad.
Following demands from Goudar’s family and others, the then-BJP government transferred the case to the CBI in 2019.
Veteran BJP leader and former Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa, under whose tenure the case was handed over to the CBI, told reporters in Chikkamagaluru, “I said what I needed to say when the crime happened, and what I said—that the guilty should be punished and justice should be served—has proven true.”
Speaking to reporters in Bengaluru, BJP leader and MLC C T Ravi, reacting to the court order, said, “Justice delayed, but not denied.”
