After the Goa Forward Party termed the eight Congress MLAs’ move of joining the Bharatiya Janata Party an “act of pure evil”, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Wednesday said GFP chief Vijai Sardesai himself wanted to join the ruling party. Sardesai, however, denied it claiming that being a party colleague of CM Sawant would not only be a “personal insult” for him, but also “denigration of moral, ethical and social values”.

The verbal duel between Sawant and Sardesai was witnessed after a group of eight Congress MLAs, including former chief minister Digambar Kamat, on Wednesday joined the ruling BJP, dealing a body blow to the opposition party which is now left with just three MLAs in the 40-member Assembly.

Reacting to the political development, Sardesai said that the eight legislators who have decided “against all political propriety, basic decency and honesty, to pursue their greed for wealth and hunger for power, stand today as the symbols of pure evil, displaying their shameless selfishness, avarice and chicanery”.

“The people of Goa are backstabbed and their faith destroyed first by oaths and then this betrayal, and they will note that this act of perfidy comes during the ‘Pitru Paksha’ (period during which Hindus pay homage to their ancestors), when these MLAs chose to repay the debts to their ancestors,” Sardesai said.

Responding to Sardesai’s statement, the chief minister told a group of journalists in Panaji that Sardesai himself wanted to join the BJP. “He wanted to join the BJP, but our party did not a green signal to him. That is why he is levelling the allegations,” Sawant said. However, Sardesai quickly rubbished chief minister’s statement through a tweet.

“To be the party colleague of @DrPramodPSawant would not only be a personal insult but also a denigration of the moral, ethical and social values that I and all Goemkars (Goans) cherish. It’s despicable that a man can be such a crook to drag his native land through mud to be in power,” he tweeted.

With inputs from News18