Panaji, Mar 26 (IANS): Days after suffering a crushing defeat in the Zilla Panchayat bypoll, Goa Pradesh Mahila Congress Committee president Pratima Coutinho on Friday quit the party and joined the Aam Aadmi Party.

Coutinho, a prominent face in the Congress party's women's wing for nearly a decade, said that AAP represents the future politics in Goa.

"AAP is the only future for Goa. Every political party has worked for their own benefit and not for the common man. The party's national convener Arvind Kejriwal is committed to work for the downtrodden. That has motivated me big time. That is why I am here," Coutinho said, after meeting Kejriwal and formally joining the party in the national capital.

Coutinho had blamed former Chief Minister and Congress MLA Luizinho Faleiro for sabotaging her Zilla Panchayat poll campaign, which led to her loss in the Navelim Zilla Panchayat seat last week.

State assembly polls are scheduled to be held in Goa early next year.