New Delhi Dec 17 PTI The BJP is no longer the party that it used to be former party MLA Alina Saldanha from Goa said after joining the AAP here on Friday ahead of the assembly polls early next year Saldanha claimed that she was feeling suffocated in the BJP for various reasons Addressing a joint press conference online with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal after joining the AAP Saldanha said she decided to quit the BJP and join the Aam Aadmi Party due to anti-people three linear projects of the South-Western Railways as they will destroy Goa with their implementation Welcoming her into the party fold AAP national convenor Kejriwal hit out at the Narendra Modi government for the Railways project and alleged that the Centre is working against the wishes of the people of Goa to benefit a few big industrialists He promised that the AAP government will not implement any project without peoples consent in the state if voted to power in the assembly polls early next year The projects will destroy Goa With the doubling of the South Western Railways track there will be ample pollution and destruction and most certainly the residents of the area will have to go elsewhere Such projects can not be termed as development projects because they are anti people Saldanha said The former BJP MLA said she had taken Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant to the site to make him understand what would happen if the South Western Railways track was doubled but nothing happened I was left disillusioned with the BJP The BJP is no longer the party that belonged to late Manohar Ji Parrikar who was the chief minister of state It is no longer the party that my husband late Mathany Saldanha joined with a lot of hope for the state of Goa and its people of Goa I was feeling suffocated and I think the party also felt that I was an obstruction to their goals which were anti-people she said And therefore I felt that if I am with the people I cannot be with the BJP any more After a deep thought I decided to join AAP the party of the common man the party that I believe puts the common man in the first position whenever it decides to take up any project she added Kejriwal while welcoming her into the party said Saldanha has come to the right place People of Goa do not want the three linear projects Everybody in Goa is feeling that the central government is working against the wishes of the people of the state to benefit a few capitalists big industrialists We are against it the AAP national convenor said I want to assure the people of Goa that no project will be carried out in the state without their consent if the AAP government is formed People have lost faith in the Congress in Goa while the BJP is itself breaking up The AAP will give you a good and honest government he added Saldanha a two-time MLA had resigned from the Goa Assembly and the ruling BJP on Thursday She had joined the BJP after her husbands death in 2012 She contested the by-election on a BJP ticket from the Cortalim assembly constituency and won Later in the 2017 assembly elections she contested as a BJP candidate and won Her husband was a minister in the Manohar Parrikar-led cabinet PTI SLB VIT PK SNE

Panaji (Goa) [India], December 17 (ANI): Hours after Alina Saldanha resigned as MLA and member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the BJP Goa State President Sadanand Tanavade claimed that she resigned because she was expelled from the party.

Panaji (Goa) [India], December 16 (ANI): Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s Alina Saldanha has resigned as an MLA of the Goa Assembly, alleging that the party has forgotten her and there is bedlam in the state.