Panaji Dec 22 PTI When the 2017 Assembly elections were held in Goa the Congress had put up a good show by emerging as the single largest party with 17 seats in the 40-member House but it failed to form government and could also not keep its flock together with its strength now reduced to just two However the party is still trying to put up a strong face ahead of the Assembly polls due early next year saying it is not deterred by the desertions On Monday Goa Pradesh Congress Committees working president Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco became the latest MLA to quit the party over the last five years Notably his name had figured in the first list of eight candidates announced by the Congress last week for the forthcoming state polls Before Lourencos resignation BJPs Goa election in-charge Devendra Fadnavis had said The Congress has been reduced to a rickshaw party with three wheels and soon it will turn into a bicycle party with only two of them remaining Fadnavis had predicted that Pratapsingh Rane will also quit the Congress But Rane is still with the Congress The biggest jolt the Congress came in 2019 when a group of its 10 MLAs led by then leader of opposition Chandrakant Kavlekar left the party together and joined the ruling BJP This year as the next Assembly election draws closer more MLAs quit the Congress one after the other Following the 2017 Assembly polls Vishwajit Rane Goas current health minister was the first to resign from the Congress as well as from the Assembly soon after taking oath as an MLA After him two other MLAs Subhash Shirodkar and Dayanand Sopte also resigned from the party All the three were later re-elected in by-elections on the BJPs ticket Recently Luizinho Faleiro and Ravi Naik both former chief ministers also left the Congress The party is now left with only Pratapsingh Rane and Digambar Kamat both of whom are also former CMs On Tuesday the Aam Aadmi Partys national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal took a dig at the Goa Congress saying Fifteen are sold only two are remaining they are the last stock Little stock is remaining However Leader of Opposition Digambar Kamat has remained unfazed and expressed confidence that he will lead the Congress to a thumping victory in the 2022 state polls and that his party will form government The Congress has successfully faced many storms floods and tsunamis Our functionaries have the strength and mettle to defeat opportunists Kamat recently said PTI RPS GK GK

Panaji Nov 30 PTI The Goa government on Tuesday revoked the technical permission given for an under-construction bungalow in Old Goa amid protests State Town and Country Planning Minister Chandrakant Kavlekar told reporters that the permission has been revoked by the department as it was granted based on the documents which were fraudulently produced Several villagers have been on a strike in Old Goa for the last seven days demanding demolition of the alleged illegal structure ground plus one storey bungalow which has come up next to some world heritage monuments Aam Aadmi Party leader Amit Palekar has resorted to an indefinite fast over the issue The protestors had alleged that this property was being rebuilt by the husband of a BJP spokesman by violating all the norms Kavlekar said that the original owners of this property were permitted to repair the structure spread across 50 square metres on the condition that they would obtain a NOC from the National Monument Authority He said that that permission was never obtained and on the other hand a huge structure of ground plus one storey was being built at that place PTI RPS NSK NSK

Panaji Nov 27 PTI The construction of a bungalow in the precincts of Old Goa heritage complex snowballed into a political tussle on Saturday with the Save Old Goa Action Committee starting an indefinite satyagraha the GFP demanding an apology and the Trinamool Congress stating it will raise the issue in the winter session of Parliament TMC Lok Sabha MP Mahua Moitra said this was illegal construction in an area protected by the Archeological Survey of India and she would raise it in Parliament in the upcoming session Moitra who had met groups agitating on the issue on Friday also alleged the land was bought by the husband of a Mumbai-based BJP leader During the day Goa Forward Party MLA Vijai Sardesai wrote to state Town and Country Planning Minister Chandrakant Kavlekar asking him to revoke permissions given to the controversial structure by December 3 and come out with the facts behind the episode If you and your government have indulged in wrongdoing in 2016 and 2021 then apologise by December 3 he said in his letter to Kavlekar On Friday Kavlekar had said an inquiry had been ordered into the construction adding that this had not happened in my term but much earlier I have ordered the withdrawal of permission for the construction of a bungalow in a heritage precinct Kavlekar said Several people priests and NGOS had protested recently near the St Cajetan Church in Old Goa against the bungalow construction PTI RPS BNM BNM BNM