Booster Shot for TMC as Ex-Goa CM, Sahitya Akademi Awardee Among 12 Leaders Likely to Join Party Today

Konkani writer N Shivdas, known for his Sahitya Akademi award-winning collection of short stories ‘Bhangarsall’, is among a dozen people from Goa who are expected to join Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress on Wednesday along with former chief minister Luizinho Faleiro.

Faleiro, who resigned from Congress and reached Kolkata on Tuesday, is scheduled to join the TMC on Wednesday at 4 pm. “You know how our party culture is. We always bring change with civil society. You will see musicians, actors, players, theatre personalities joining TMC because we are reaching out to them. We are visiting their homes and not do things while sitting at home. We give it a personal touch,” Derek O’Brien told News18.

Faleiro, known to be a Congress heavyweight, is the second leader outside West Bengal who is set to join the TMC. Earlier, former Congress MP from Assam’s Silchar and ex-president of All India Mahila Congress, Sushmita Dev had joined Mamata Banerjee’s party.

Faleiro was recently appointed as the Chairman of the Election Coordination Committee for Goa Assembly polls and was All India Congress Committee (AICC) in charge of North-Eastern states.

Addressing a press conference in Panaji on Monday after submitting his resignation, Faleiro lauded West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s ‘streetfighter’ spirit and said, “Mamata Banerjee has fought and succeeded in stopping Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from entering Bengal. She symbolises woman empowerment – she can bring the country back on the track of development and progress.”

Besides the former Goa CM and Sahitya Akademi awardee Shivdas, other top names that would join TMC include ex-IPS officer and former member of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party Lavoo Mamledar and environmentalist Rajendra Shivaji Kakodkar.

Kakodkar is said to be an experienced hand in politics, who has closely supported multiple public representatives in the past. All the leaders reached Kolkata a day ago amid warm welcome by minister Sujit Bose.

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