Who are party MLAs Michael Lobo and Digambar Kamat behind the Congress rebellion in Goa?

Even as Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi asked party MP Mukul Wasnik to rush to Goa to oversee the latest political developments, five Goa Congress MLAs who went incommunicado on Sunday attended the state Assembly proceedings on the first day of the Monsoon Session on Monday.

The MLAs claimed there was “nothing wrong” in the Opposition party.

In the Goa Assembly elections were held earlier this year, the BJP emerged as the single-largest party, winning 20 seats in the 40-member state Assembly and reducing Congress to 11 seats.

Five of the 11 Congress MLAs in the state – Michael Lobo, Digambar Kamat, Kedar Naik, Rajesh Faldesai and Delialah Lobo — went incommunicado, as per a senior party leader.

The Congress subsequently removed Lobo from the post of Leader of Opposition in the 40-member state Assembly.

Congress’ Goa desk in-charge Dinesh Gundu Rao had alleged that “Lobo and Kamat were hatching a conspiracy by hobnobbing with the BJP to engineer a split in the Congress.”

The Congress on Monday filed petitions with the Goa Assembly Speaker Ramesh Tawadkar seeking disqualification of  Michael Lobo and Digambar Kamat.

But who are Michael Lobo and Digambar Kamat? Let’s take a closer look:

Michael Lobo

Born in 1976 in Goa's Mapusa, Michael Lobo is a Congress MLA from Calangute.

As per The Hindu, Lobo wields considerable influence in the Mapusa, Siolim and Saligao constituencies.

His wife Delilah is the Congress MLA from Siolim.

Lobo, a Roman Catholic who was with the BJP for over a decade, was previously the president of North Goa BJP, as per DNA.

He previously also served as the North Goa Planning and Development Authority chairman.

Lobo had in January resigned from the Pramod Sawant-led cabinet and also as member of the Legislative Assembly ahead of the state polls.

Lobo, the Minister for Port in the Pramod Sawant-led Goa government, claimed that people were unhappy with the ruling BJP in the coastal state. Rao had also claimed that the Congress had a track record of doing things that benefit the coastal state.

At the time Lobo was the BJP’s most prominent Catholic face and an important get for the Congress, which had seen a slew of defections to the BJP over the past few years.

The voters told me that the BJP is no more a party of the common people, he said, at the time while claiming that the grass-root level workers were feeling ignored by the party.

Lobo had in the 2022 polls defeated BJP’s Joseph Robert Sequeira in the Calangute constituency by a margin of 4,979 votes.

As per DNA, Lobo had in 2013 opposed the opening of India's first Playboy Club, calling it ‘tantamount to prostitution. The government later withdrew permission the club’s permission to operate.

Lobo had first contested the election from Calangute Vidhan Sabha on BJP ticket in 2012. He had defeated the Congress candidate by 1,857 votes.

Digambar Kamat

Digambar Kamat is a former Goa chief minister (2012-2017) and a Congress stalwart.

The 67-year-old is the Congress MLA from Margao Assembly seat, his traditional constituency, which is in the Salcete coastal belt dominated by Catholics.

His profession, as per according to the election affidavit he filed with the Election Commission, is listed as agriculturist.

A graduate, his total declared assets are Rs 15.2 crore including Rs 8.7 crore in moveable assets and Rs 6.4 crore in immoveable assets. His total declared income is Rs 48 lakh of which Rs 24 lakh is self-income.

He defeated the BJP’s Manohar Babu Ajgaonkar in the 2022 polls by 4,176 votes.

During the 2012 Goa assembly elections, the BJP had accused Kamat of being involved in a multi-crore scam. The Supreme Court-appointed MB Shah Commission had also indicted him.

‘Nothing wrong in the party’

Talking to reporters on Monday, Lobo claimed there was nothing wrong in the party.

“There is nothing wrong. I don’t know what is the problem. All Congress MLAs were together. We went to South Goa for a meeting on Sunday. They (Congress leaders) again wanted to have another press conference which was not required, so we did not attend it,” said Lobo, whose wife Delialah is also a Congress MLA.

Lobo said they won the state election on the Congress’s ticket and they stand with the party.

On being replaced as the Leader of Opposition, Lobo said he had told the party that he was not interested in continuing in that post.

Kamat and his Congress colleague Rajesh Faldesai also said they were with the party.

The two Congress MLAs said they were not in the party office on Sunday due to personal commitments.

Talking to reporters outside the Assembly complex, Kamat said he was very much with the Congress.

“I had met Dinesh Gundu Rao on Saturday. I told him that I am hurt because of the humiliation that I faced in the party,” the former CM said, adding that rumours of him joining the BJP were floating since 2017.

“I stayed with the Congress. I led the party from front during the Assembly election (earlier this year), but after the polls, I was not given the post of Leader of Opposition,” Kamat said.

He added that he is "shocked and stunned" by party state in-charge Dinesh Gundu Rao's statement.

"I saw a video of the presser of Dinesh Gundu Rao which is being circulated. I am shocked and stunned; it has hurt me beyond words. Dinesh Rao was at my place on Saturday night, I told him my position then," Kamat said.

"Because of your humiliation towards me after the elections, my workers are angry, I am also deeply hurt. So, for the time being, I said, I am not going to accept any responsibility. Once I am fit, we will see. Rumours about me joining BJP have been spreading since 2017. If I wanted to go, I'd have gone. No one ca, n stop me. But still, I led the party from the front, I went all out. And suddenly, they changed me from LoP when the results came in. I don't know why he made such a statement. I am in Congress, you can see my performance," he added.

MLA Rajesh Faldesai also said he was with the party and had informed Goa Congress chief Amit Patkar about his absence (from the party office on Sunday), as he was at home due to personal reasons.

Faldesai said rumours were being spread that he met Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Sunday.

Before the commencement of the Assembly session, a senior Congress leader said they had moved five other MLAs, who were with the party, to an undisclosed location, to avoid a ‘split’ in the outfit and that they will attend the session.

With inputs from agencies