Goa: Ex-Cong MLA Victor Gonsalves joins TMC

KOLKATA: Ahead of the Assembly polls in Goa, former Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) from St Cruz Victor Gonsalves quit Congress and joined All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) on Thursday.

Gonsalves has also served as the General Secretary of the Goa Pradesh Congress Committee.

According to Gonsalves, he quit Congress because he felt that Mamata Banerjee was the only person who could stop BJP's atrocities. He also believes that Congress has no future in Goa and so he has joined TMC.

Gonsalves began his political career in the youth wing of Congress and held the position of the Goa Pradesh Youth Congress president.

In 1989, he was elected as St Cruz MLA on Congress ticket. In 2016, Gonsalves joined Aam Aadmi party and in November 2017, he joined the Goa Forward Party. He had begun working with Congress again in 2020.

With the joining of Gonsalves, around 40 leaders from Congress joined TMC in the last few months. Gonsalves opined that the Congress party had lost its relevance in Goa and most of the workers had shifted their allegiance to TMC in the last few months. The Congress organisation failed to revive its strength in Goa.

Gonsalves joined Goa TMC in presence of MP Mahua Moitra and Sushmita Dev.