Not taken into confidence by BJP over Sopte's entry: Parsekar

The imminent cross-over of Congress MLA Dayanand Sopte to the ruling BJP in Goa seems to have not gone down well with senior saffron leader and former chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar Tuesday.

On a day Sopte and his colleague Subhash Shirodkar resigned as the members of the state Legislative Assembly and are set to join the BJP, Parsekar said he was not taken into confidence by the party "before accepting Sopte in the BJP fold".

Parsekar, who served as the chief minister of the state from November 2014 to March 2017, was defeated by Sopte from Mandrem seat in the assembly elections held last year.

"I was not taken into confidence by the BJP before taking Sopte into the party," Parsekar told PTI.

The former chief minister said there was no reason for Sopte to switch over to the BJP, "as the party-led alliance government has been implementing the developmental works in Mandrem constituency".

"Developmental works proposed by Sopte were approved by chief minister Manohar Parrikar. He (Sopte) had himself said that the BJP never gave him any step-motherly treatment for being a Congress MLA," he said.

When asked whether he would campaign for Sopte in the upcoming by-election in Mandrem constituency, Parsekar said, "it is between me and the party and I don't want to speak about it in public".

The resignation of Sopte and Shirodkar, who represents Shiroda seat in south Goa, is seen as a major setback to the opposition Congress in Goa, at a time when the political situation in the state has become volatile against the backdrop of Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar's ill health.

The development has brought down the Congress party's strength from 16 to 14 in the 40-member House. The Congress has lost its status as the single largest party in the Assembly whose effective strength not stands reduced to 38.