Panaji, April 10 Amit Palekar, the former president of the Goa unit of the Aam Aadmi Party, joined the Congress on Friday.
Palekar, who had been projected as the AAP's chief ministerial candidate during the 2022 elections, recently resigned from the Arvind Kejriwal-led party.
He was inducted into the Congress in the presence of its Goa desk in-charge Manikrao Thakare, state unit chief Amit Patkar, Leader of Opposition in the assembly Yuri Alemao, and others.
Speaking on the occasion, Thakare said that the Congress will never forgive the MLAs who were elected on its ticket but later joined the ruling BJP.
The Congress does not adhere to any exclusive ideology tied to a particular religion but stands for secularism, he said.
"Our Constitution gives every individual the right to follow and practice their own religion, and that right must be respected... but if anyone tries to do politics in the name of religion, or attempts to divide us on that basis, we stand firmly against it," Thakare said.
Those who engage in politics in the name of religion have no real history of contributing to the development of the country, he said, adding that their only strategy is to divide people along religious and caste lines to gain power.
"Such an approach will never help the country progress," he said.