Panaji, Nov 20 (IANS): Kiran Kandolkar, a former BJP legislator, who had likened West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to goddess Durga last month, joined the Trinamool Congress on Saturday.

Kandolkar, a working president of the Goa Forward party, a regional political outfit, joined the Trinamool Congress in presence of the party's Lok Sabha MP Mahua Moitra at a formal ceremony in Panaji.

"The Congress does not appear serious in sending the BJP home. I am serious in wanting to send them home. Goans are serious. The Trinamool Congress was an option. A leader like Rahul Gandhi is not talking against Modi. Arvind Kejriwal of the AAP is coming to Goa like a tourist but is not saying a word against Prime Minister Narendra Modi," Kandolkar told reporters at a press conference after his induction into the party.

"It is only Mamata Banerjee who has literally fought Modi and defeated them in Bengal. The entire country has seen it," Kandolkar also said.

Kandolkar, who had been in talks with several political parties, also said that he did not choose to ally with the Congress because of lack of faith in the opposition party's treatment of its election candidates.

"I have no faith in the Congress and it is known that they leave their candidates hanging until the last minute which then leaves little time for the candidate to go around campaigning which then results in a loss. I found TMC is the real option to send the BJP home. In the coming days many more will join. We will form a government and bring about a new dawn," Kandolkar said.