Goa: Five of 11 Congress MLAs go 'incommunicado'
party sacks Michael Lobo as LoP for 'conspiring with BJP'
Panaji(PTI): In a fresh trouble for the opposition Congress in Goa, the party on Sunday said five of its 11 MLAs in the state have gone "incommunicado", and accused two of these legislators - Michael Lobo and former chief minister Digambar Kamat - of "conspiring" and "hobnobbing with the ruling BJP to engineer a split" in the grand old party's legislative wing.
The party also removed Lobo from the post of Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly, which has 40 members.
The announcement about the legislators going incommunicado and the sacking of Lobo from the post was made by the party's Goa desk in-charge Dinesh Gundu Rao here late Sunday evening, on the eve of the assembly session.
The development comes amid speculation that some Congress MLAs may cross over to the saffron party. Exactly three years ago on this day, a group of 10 MLAs from the Congress had left the party and switched over to the BJP.
The development also comes close on the heels of the political turmoil in neighbouring Maharashtra, where the ruling Shiv Sena split following a rebellion by senior leader Eknath Shinde, who became the chief minister after Uddhav Thackeray resigned from the top post in the last week of June. Shinde and his supporting MLAs had gone "incommunicado" on June 20-21 before moving to Surat and then to Guwahati.
Addressing a press conference here, Rao said, "Five Congress MLAs - Michael Lobo, Digambar Kamat, Kedar Naik, Rajesh Faldesai and Delialah Lobo - have gone incommunicado."
However, five other legislators - Altone D'Costa, Sankalp Amonkar, Yuri Alemao, Carlose Alvares Ferreira, Rudolf Fernandes - are with the party, he said. These five MLAs were even present at the press conference addressed by Rao.
"Sixth MLA, Aleixo Sequeira, is in touch with the Congress leaders and is very much with the party," he said.
"Lobo and Kamat were hatching a conspiracy by hobnobbing with BJP to engineer a split in the Congress. Therefore, the party has decided to remove Lobo from the post of the Leader of Opposition. Action will be taken against both Lobo and Kamat," Rao alleged.
In the Pramod Sawant-led dispensation, the ruling BJP has 20 MLAs, and the government also enjoys the support of five others - two from the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) and three Independents. The grand old party had won 11 seats in the assembly polls held in February this year.
The Goa Foward Party (GFP) and Revolutionary Goans Party (RGP) had won one seat each, while the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had bagged two seats.
Rao said that if the five MLAs defect, they will have to face elections again as the group does not enjoy the two-thirds majority of the party's legislative wing.
He recalled that before the assembly polls, all the Congress candidates had taken a vow before God that they would not defect to any other party if they get elected.
"These MLAs have broken that vow," Rao said.
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Real Madrid fines Valverde and Tchouaméni half a million euros each for altercation
Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.
The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.
On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."
His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.
In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”
Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”
Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.
After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.
“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.
“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”
Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.
Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay.
Chaotic end to a poor season
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The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.
It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.
Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.
Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.
