Hummingbird News Desk
KOLKATA, 29 SEP: As expected former two-time chief minister of Goa and Congress leader Luizinho Faleiro on Wednesday joined Trinamul Congress in Kolkata. Ten other Congress leaders also joined Trinamul along with Faleiro.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee, Trinamul Congress national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee and state minister Subrata Mukherjee were among the senior leaders present at the induction ceremony.
Flanked by Trinamul Congress All India General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee, State Minister of Panchayat Subrata Mukherjee and the party MP Sougata Roy, Faleiro took the flag of the party from Banerjee and said that his primary job is to fight the divisive policies, vengeance and the culture of intolerance of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Welcoming the senior Goan leader to the party fold, Mamata Banerjee said the Trinamul Congress would “fight divisive forces and work towards ushering in a new dawn” for Goa.
Former Goa Congress general secretaries Yatish Naik and Vijay Vasudev Poi and former state secretaries of the party, Mario Pinto De Santana and Anand Naik and five others also joined the Trinamul Congress along with Faleiro. Sahitya Akademi Award winner and poet Shivdas Sonu Naik and Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party leader Lavoo Mamledar were among them.
In a tweet, the Trinamul posted a video earlier in the day from its recently created official handle for Goa unit of the party that big announcements were in the offing.
Addressing the media after the induction of Faleiro and other Goan leaders, Abhishek Banerjee said that their fight is not against the Congress or any other party but to defeat the BJP.
“Our fight is not against the Congress or any political party. We need to save India, and for that it is essential to defeat the BJP,” he said, adding that while the Congress has been in the national opposition space for the past seven years it is the TMC that has been consistently defeating the BJP.
“If the Congress isn’t doing anything, we can’t be sitting ducks. The Congress needs to get out of the armchair and hit the streets. It can’t be done by the comfort of sitting in their homes. We aren’t a party that exists only on social media,” the Trinamul Congress national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee said.
Addressing a press conference, Faleiro said, “I would like to quote the last testament of Mahatma Gandhi — the Father of the Nation. Just three days before his heinous assassination he had said — ‘Congress which is the oldest national political organisation and which have fought many battles in a non-violent way cannot be allowed to die. It can only die with the nation. A living organism ever grows or dies’.”
Expressing his profound happiness to join Trinamul Congress, the seven-time MLA of Goa said, “My resignation is the beginning of the unification of the congress family. I have started my journey from the west coast and have reached the east. I am a Congressman and I have lived with that for the last 40 years. I have the same ideology, principles and programs that Congress has. When I am joining Trinamul Congress it is to fulfill my dream to bring the congress family together”.
“Today Congress family is fragmented. There is YSR Congress, Sharad Congress and Indira Congress. My dream is to bring the Congress family together,” he added.
“I will strive to consolidate Congress but before that my main mission is to fight the divisive policies, vengeance and the culture of intolerance of the BJP,” he said.
“Like the country Goa is also suffering because of the BJP. There is economic meltdown, administrative collapse and sharp unemployment. In Goa, 65 per cent of the population is living below the poverty line. The BJP has taken our country 45 years back,” the former veteran Congress leader said.
Before addressing the chief minister, Faleiro met Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at the state secretariat in Nabanna. After meeting with Miss Banerjee, Faleiro tweeted, “Meeting the Hon Chief Minister of Bengal, Smt @MamataOfficial with my compatriots. We pledge to protect the people of Goa against divisive and fascist forces. The fight for a new dawn in Goa begins today”.
Tags: #GoaChiefMinister #LuizinhoFaleiro #MamataBanerjee #TrinamulCongress