Goa Minister quits legislatorship, to join BJP

Panaji, Jan 11 A day after two BJP MLAs resigned from the party, Govind Gaude, an independent legislator and the state's Art and Culture Minister on Tuesday resigned as MLA and said that he would be joining the Bharatiya Janata Party later in the day.

"I have decided that I will be fighting the upcoming elections on a BJP ticket. I felt that contesting on an independent ticket restricts me to my constituency alone. Since I am a man who has risen through agitations I believe this is a step in the right direction," Gaude told a press conference.

While four MLAs have quit the BJP so far over the last one month, three sitting MLAs namely Ravi Naik (Congress), Rohan Khaunte (Independent) Jayesh Salgaokar (Goa Forward) have so far joined the BJP.