Sonia Gandhi endorses sacking of Goa Congress MLA

Panaji, March 11 (IANS) Congress president Sonia Gandhi has endorsed the sacking of its legislator Atanasio Monserrate from the party for six years for anti-party activity, a spokesperson said here on Wednesday.

Addressing a press conference at the Congress' state headquarters in Panaji, spokesperson Sunil Kawthankar said the party was also in the process of acting sternly against other members of the state Congress, suspected of indulging in indiscipline and anti-party activity.

"The Congress president has endorsed the state Executive Committee's decision to expel Monserrate from the Congress party for a term of six years," Kawthankar said.

Monserrate was a cabinet minister in Congress as well as BJP-led governments. His wife Jennifer, however, continues to be a legislator of the Congress party.

The Congress was decimated in the 2012 state assembly polls and reduced to single digit - nine - presence in the 40-member state legislative assembly.

But even after the drubbing, the party has been plagued by infighting.

Apart from Monserrate, who openly rebelled against the official Congress candidate in the recent by-election, which eventually led to the party's defeat, another MLA, Mauvin Godinho, has repeatedly dared the party to expel him.