Panaji, Feb 13 (TOI): Not only has the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) failed to revive mining, it had instead heaped a bigger financial burden on the mining industry, especially on mining-dependent families, all Goa Mining Truck Owners Association (AGMTOA) president Nilkant Gauns said while hitching his wagon to the Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) on Friday. Gauns went on to claim that the BJP was searching for opportunistic gains through the mining issue and were acting like agents.

Gauns, a former BJP member, joined the Congress along with around 200 of his supporters, claiming that the Congress was his natural home.

"The BJP's Sakhali MLA, Pramod Sawant and Sanguem MLA, Subhash Phal Dessai were shouting that the Congress has robbed the money of the people. But after coming to power, they are doing the same, without any opposition," said Gauns. "Where is the 35,000 crore they promised to recover?"

GPCC president Luizinho Faleiro, who formally accepted Gauns' membership, took the opportunity to assert that Goans were disillusioned with the current BJP government and that several citizens were joining the Congress. "The BJP made tall promises to the people, but in the last four years, the party has brought people on the road by making life difficult for them. The consensus of the people is that bringing the BJP to power in Goa was a big mistake," Faleiro said.

The veteran political leader also termed the state government's decision to classify the national bird, the peacock and the state animal, the guar as a nuisance as suicidal. "It is a suicidal decision to kill all the environment that Goa has got. You must know how to manage and protect wildlife," the party president said.

Interpreting the membership of Gawas and 200 others as a sign of faith in the Congress, Faleiro said, "The BJP has finished off the economy and people of Goa by taking decisions that are not in the interest of the state."