Congress MLA Vishwajit Rane Quits Party After BJP Wins Floor Test

This development comes after MLA Vishwajit Rane declared his support for Congress earlier in the day.

Goa CM Manohar Parrikar won the floor test on Thursday. (Photo: PTI) 

Congress leader Vishwajit Rane on Thursday resigned from the Congress and the assembly, shortly after he went missing during a trust vote in the house which the BJP coalition won.

Rane told reporters that he had submitted his resignation to the Speaker's office and it had been accepted.

I have been told by my party workers and constituents to resign from the Congress, which meant I had to resign as MLA too.

Vishwajit Rane

Earlier, Rane went missing from the assembly during the vote on the confidence motion moved by Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar in the assembly even as Congress leader Chandrakant Kavlekar claimed he could not be traced.

Also Read: Goa Live: Cong MLA Resigns From Party, Refuses to Comment on Rahul

Rane had won the 4 February polls from Valpoi constituency in Goa. He will now contest the elections again from the same constituency on the ticket of Sattari Yuva Morcha, a local party, and extend his support to the BJP government in the state, according to a report by The Hindu.

Over the last few days, Rane had been accusing the Congress leadership, including state president Luizinho Faleiro and Congress General Secretary Digvijaya Singh, of sabotaging the party's attempts to come to power though the Congress emerged as the single largest party in the 4 February polls.

Rane's father, Pratapsingh Rane, is also a Congress legislator and a former Chief Minister.

Responding to Rane's allegations, Singh had claimed that the MLA was in touch with Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar.

This development comes after Rane declared his support for Congress earlier in the day.

(With inputs from IANS.)