‘No hope or even the will to prevent the collapse of the party’: Luizinho Faleiro writes to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi

Former Goa chief minister and Congress MLA Luizinho Faleiro on Monday wrote to the party’s interim president Sonia Gandhi, saying that he saw no will to prevent the collapse of the party and to change for the better. Further, he also said that the Goa state unit has become a “cruel parody” of what the Congress party stood for.

Faleiro made the remarks following his resignation from the party and as a MLA earlier on Monday. Goa assembly speaker Rajesh Patnekar accepted the resignation. Also, several loyalists of Faleiro have also quit the party.

In his letter to Sonia Gandhi, Faleiro pointed to the party’s performance in the 2017 assembly elections in which it won 17 seats. He said that alongside the 17 MLAs, an independent MLA also won who was supported by the party and the party had also rallied the support of four others and had a “clear majority” with 21 MLAs.

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“However, I was prevented from going to the governor by the AICC desk in charge and asked to wait till we had 24 MLAs, a decision that eventually cost us the Government and allowed the BJP to steal the mandate through manipulation and inducement,” he said. “I felt dejected, shocked and utterly betrayed. We had let down the people of Goa who had entrusted us with their mandate,” he added.

He also said that the Goa Congress was not the same party for which the leaders “sacrificed and fought” and said that it is functioning contrary to “every ideal and principle” of its founding fathers. “However, the Goa unit of the party has become a cruel parody of what the Congress stands for. Led by a coterie of leaders who prioritize personal gains over the responsibility we owe to our people, we have utterly failed to even be an effective Opposition,” he wrote.

Mentioning that the party has been reduced to five MLAs from 18, he said that no one was held accountable for the loss of MLAs but “true Congress workers” were being sidelined. “ I see absolutely no hope or even the will to prevent the collapse of the party and change for the better,” he said.

However, he said that his decision to quit his post and step-down from the party was “the need of the hour” and to dedicate his efforts to the betterment of the people of Goa. His resignation came as the state is scheduled to go to polls in 2022 for its 40-seat legislative assembly.

(With ANI inputs)