Former Congress MLA Vishwajeet Rane Joins The BJP

Former Congress member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) Vishwajeet Rane today (6 April) joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the presence of Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar.

The former Valpoi legislator had resigned from the Congress, as well as an MLA, on 16 March, the day Parrikar won a crucial trust vote on the floor of the state assembly.

Rane is the son of Congress veteran and former chief minister Pratapsinh Rane. He had quit the Congress last month after he was upset that the party failed to form the government in Goa despite winning 17 seats in the 40-member assembly.

During the trust vote held in the House, Parrikar had proved his majority with 12 legislators from the BJP, three from Goa Forward Party, three from Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party, three Independents and one from Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) voting in favour of the trust motion.

The opposition benches had included 16 MLAs from Congress, as Rane had remained absent during the voting.

Days after losing the trust vote, the Goa Congress had said it would seek disqualification of Rane from contesting elections for defying its whip to vote against the motion.

With Inputs From ANI.