from daijiworld's special correspondent
Panaji, Mar 19 (6-30 pm IST): Filipe Nery Rodrigues, an independent legislator and minister in the state cabinet, on Monday resigned as member of legislative assembly only to be sworn in back later in the evening, after formally joining the Congress party.
Rodrigues, an independent legislator from Velim constituency in south Goa, is water resources minister in the Pratapsingh Rane-led cabinet in the state. He was part of March 2005 coup which brought down the BJP-led state government with five legislators having resigned.
"My voters always wanted me to be in the Congress party," Rodrigues told reporters at the Congress house here. Though his entry is timed at the state legislative assembly elections, Rodrigues clarified that his entry is unconditional. "I have taken this decision to keep the communal forces away," he added.
Rodrigues, earlier on Monday morning, tendered his resignation to the speaker of Goa legislative assembly Fransisco Sardinha and later joined the Congress party in the afternoon, an hour before rushing to Raj Bhavan to be sworn in again as a minister.
"It is most likely that he will retain all his earlier portfolios," congress sources confirmed.
Rodrigues said that the swearing-in was just a technical affair as without resigning it was not possible for him to join Congress.
With Monday's developments, the Goa state legislative assembly's strength is reduced to 35 in a house of 40. Two BJP legislators were disqualified from the house, while a BJP legislator Manohar Azgaonkar had tendered his resignation to join Congress. UGDP legislator Mathany Saldanha too stands disqualified in the house.