Former Congress MLA Vishwajeet Rane joins BJP

Former Congress MLA Vishwajeet Rane on Thursday 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 March 16, the day Parrikar won a crucial trust vote on the floor of state assembly.

Rane is the son of Congress veteran and former Chief Minister Pratapsinh Rane.

Rane had quit the Congress last month after being upset that the party failed to form the government in Goa despite it 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 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 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.