Luizinho Faleiro sacked from Rajya Sabha TMC post, forced to resign from party?

NEW DELHI: According to political gossip in Delhi, Kolkatta and Goa, Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP and former Goa CM Luizinho Faleiro was sacked and asked to resign from the Rajya Sabha seat, which also prompted him to resign from the membership of the party as well.

Irrespective of what media reports and press statements may claim, the fact remains that Faleiro was ‘told to leave’ or in other words “sacked” after his dismally poor performance during the Goa State Assembly polls last year.

Media reports had indicated the TMC high command was unhappy with Faleiro’s extremely poor performance as a leader and vote mobiliser in the Goa State Assembly polls held in February last year as well as his flat refusal to contest from the Fatorda constituency, which was allotted to him.

As a face-saving measure, he resigned from the Rajya Sabha as well as the party membership citing personal reasons. However if political gossip and sources are to be believed, Faleiro was sacked outright and 15th April was given as a deadline for him to resign on his own.

In his resignation letter, he cited the main reason being lack of time and resources to focus on his home state as he was elected from West Bengal. Former Goa CM Faleiro was elected to the Rajya Sabha in November 2021 soon after joining TMC. His resignation was accepted by the Rajya Sabha Chairman three years and seven months ahead of the expiry of his term.

Faleiro was also dropped from the National Committee of the TMC, almost immediately after the Goa poll fiasco, in which the TMC is said to have “blown up” more than Rs 50 to 70 crore. At that time the excuse given was that since Faleiro was a party Rajya Sabha representative, he could not hold two posts.

He was under major pressure from the TMC high command to resign from the membership of Rajya Sabha after he refused to contest assembly elections from the Fatorda constituency in South Goa. The TMC leadership was unhappy with his decision not to contest the assembly polls and kept a distance from the 71-year-old veteran Goan politician. The TMC in a press release said that “AITC will announce a new candidate for the seat as and when the election is notified”.

Dust Thou Art: It was sheer greed and lust for power that made Faleiro resign from the Congress in October 2021. While he put on a brave act, playing the victim card, everyone in Goa knows it was Faleiro’s greed for power (to be the CM) that prevented the Congress from forming the government with its ally the Goa Forward Party. Vijai Sardesai walked over to the BJP which welcomed him with open arms. Had Faleiro not to insist on being the CM in 2017, maybe (just maybe) the Congress would have been in power then and even today.