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Sandesh Prabhudesai in Panaji
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parikkar on Friday said the defection of his deputy, Ravi Naik, to the opposition Congress camp will only strengthen BJP's corruption-free image.
Naik tendered his resignation from the government and the party on Friday morning taking political observers by surprise.
"Birds of the same feather have flocked together," Parrikar said at a crowded press conference in Panaji. He said those who were uncomfortable with the party's tough stand on corruption were bound to leave.
Naik is the fourth BJP leader to cross over to the Congress after the state assembly was dissolved on February 27. The other three are Ramakant Khalap, Sanjay Bandekar and Jose Philip D'Souza.
Parrikar said Naik's defection had not come as a surprise to him. He said Naik had not filed his nomination from Ponda and was also not attending party's campaign meetings.
However, he could not explain why then the party came out with a campaign booklet with Naik's picture on the cover. These booklets will now have to be withdrawn.
The mood in the Congress camp, meanwhile, appeared upbeat with Naik's 'homecoming.'
Naik had quit the Congress in October 2000 to join the BJP.
ALSO SEE: Goa deputy chief minister quits BJP
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