Ex-MGP leader in talks with Congress

Panaji: Former MGP functionary Ketan Bhatikar is likely to join Congress party in the coming days, said Congress insiders. State Congress president Amit Patkar admitted that Bhatikar met him on Tuesday to discuss his entry. Patkar said that Bhatikar’s entry into the Congress will be discussed with the Ponda block. “I will not deny that Ketan Bhatikar met me on Tuesday, and he is showing intentions of joining the Congress party. Congress has a practice of consultations right from the block level to the Pradesh Congress Committee level, and I will discuss this proposal with the block of Ponda,” said Patkar. Bhatikar parted ways with the MGP ahead of the recent zilla panchayat elections, attributing internal differences to his decision.Patkar said that he will meet the Ponda block workers on Thursday or Friday to decide on Bhatikar’s offer. He said that Bhatikar already met Congress general secretary Rajesh Verenkar, who was touted to be the party’s candidate for the Ponda bypolls.“We met openly with Rajesh Verenkar. We want to defeat the BJP in Ponda. We are seeing the byelection as a benchmark that will decide the result for the 2027 assembly elections,” said Patkar.Patkar said that Congress is confident of defeating BJP in the Ponda bypolls.