Four ex-CMs will not allow Congress to form govt: Monserratte

The four former chief ministers in the Congress will never allow the party to come to power in Goa, Panaji MLA Atanasio Monserratte, who joined the ruling BJP two days ago, said Friday.

Monserratte and nine other MLAs crossed over to the saffron party Wednesday, reducing the Congress' strength in 40-member Goa Assembly to five.

Of the five remaining legislators, four are former chief ministers, namely, Ravi Naik, Luizinho Faleiro, Digambar Kamat and Pratapsingh Rane.

"They want to become chief minister again and they will never allow Congress to form government," Monserratte told reporters here.

The fact that even Leader of Opposition Chandrakant Kavlekar left the party and joined the BJP indicated how bad the things were in the Congress, Monserratte added.

However, he himself was not in the position to comment on the Congress' affairs as he had joined it recently, he said.

"I was like a traveler in Congress for one month," he said.

Monserratte won Panaji Assembly by-election on Congress ticket in May.