Former Minister Avertano Furtado on Tuesday joined Congress in presence of the Goa Congress desk in charge of Dinesh Gundu Rao, GPCC president Girish Chodankar and leader of opposition Digambar Kamat.
Furtado has joined the party a day after Navalim sitting MLA and former chief minister Luizinho Faleiro resigned from Congress.
Sources said that Congress was in touch with Furtado for a long time. The resignation of Falerio has speed up Furtardo’s induction into the party.
In the 2012 assembly elections, Furtado had defeated the heavy-weight Churchill Alemao in Navelim as an independent candidate. Furtado, who had supported the BJP government, held various portfolios including fisheries in the Manohar Parrikar-led cabinet between 2012 to 2017.
In 2017, however, he once again contested as an independent candidate but was defeated by Faleiro.