PANAJI: Social media posts and reports are abuzz with the news that former MLA and BJP Minister from the Mormugao constituency may be headed to the Congress.
Milind Naik was a member of the Goa Legislative Assembly representing the Mormugao constituency in the previous government. He contested in 2022 on a BJP ticket and lost to Sankalp Amonkar who was then with the Congress. Naik resigned over accusations of misconduct, levelled primarily by members of the Goa Congress and Amonkar, whom Naik had then accused of masterminding the entire episode.
In the entire “sex scandal”, Naik had maintained that he was innocent and that the entire scandal was a ploy orchestrated by then Congress leader (and now MLA) Sankalp Amonkar to discredit him in the run up to the Assembly polls. He resigned under pressure when images and MMS clips went viral, showing him with a woman in compromising positions. Naik maintained that the clips and images were doctored and manipulated and the entire episode was “setup” by Amonkar. The victim herself turned hostile later on and eventually disappeared from the media glare.
As Sankalp Amonkar is most likely to get the BJP ticket for Mormugao, Naik who is keen on contesting from the same constituency may be seeking a Congress ticket, sources said. He had previously told supporters that he will be contesting from Mormugao no matter what. He had even stated that he is likely to contest as an independent candidate from Mormugao and the Congress (and its alliance partners) which has a reasonable voter base in Mormugao may be a good opportunity for Naik, political observers claim.
No Congress senior leader was wiling to comment on the issue. Milind Naik himself was not reachable. This is a developing story, we will update it as more inputs come in.