Two-time Cortalim MLA Alina Saldanha joined AAP in the presence of Arvind Kejriwal in Delhi,
Gomantak Times
Two-time Cortalim MLA Alina Saldanha, who resigned from the assembly membership and later joined Aam Aadmi Party on Wednesday, said that she was feeling "suffocated" in BJP.
Speaking at the press conference in the presence of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Saldanha said, "I was feeling suffocated and I think the party also felt that I was an obstruction to their goals, which were anti-people and therefore I felt that, if I am with the people, I cannot be with BJP anymore and after a deep thought I decided to join AAP, the party of common man , the party which I believe puts the common man in first position."
She further stated that if she is in public light then she is only here to serve the people.
Saldanha, who has been at the forefront of agaitations against three liner projects that cut across the Mollem biodiversity hotspot and has been opposing double-railway tracking, said that if her late husband Mathany Saldanha would be alive, he also would be disappointed with the party for those projects.
Arvind Kejriwal assured the people of Goa that, if the party comes into power, he will not impose any projects against their will.
Goa AAP Convenor Rahul Mhambre and AAP Goa Spokesperson Valmiki Naik were present for conference.
On Thursday, Alina submitted her resignation from the ruling party to Speaker Rajesh Patnekar, claiming that the BJP was no longer the party she had joined after her husband's death.
She is the first BJP MLA to resign during the current legislative session and with her resignation, the 40-member Goa legislative assembly now has 35 members.
Meanwhile, BJP reacted swiftly to her exit and issued a notice of expulsion signed by BJP State president Sadanand Shet Tanavade to Saldanha before she submitted her resignation.
Saldanha was elected unopposed from Cortalim in the by-election in 2012 caused following the death of her husband former Minister late Matanhy Saldanha.
She was later inducted as a Cabinet Minister in the Parrikar and Parsekar governments. She retained the Cortalim seat in the 2017 polls.