Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar reaches assembly ahead of floor test

Mangalore Today News Network

Mar 16, 2017: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government in Goa, headed by chief minister Manohar Parrikar, will face a crucial floor test on Thursday, as a special assembly session has been convened for the purpose.

Parrikar, who stepped down as the defence minister, was sworn in as the chief minister of the coastal state for the fourth time on Tuesday evening, along with nine ministers.

Parrikar claims support of 22 MLAs, two more than the halfway mark in the 40-member Goa assembly.

The BJP had bagged 13 seats in the polls, while it claims support of three MLAs each of the Goa Forward Party and Maharashtravadi Gomantak Party, besides three independents. The Congress had won 17 seats.

Catch live updates on the floor test here:

“We are confident and we will prove the numbers,” says Vishwajit Rane of the Congress party, who has arrived at the state assembly.

Congress leader Digvijaya Singh has told NDTV: “We will defeat the motion.”

Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar reaches state assembly.

Parrikar has been the chief minister twice before and has also been credited with strengthening the BJP in the coastal state.

Congress leader Om Prakash Mishra tells ANI: “This swearing-in ceremony of Manohar Parrikar as the chief minister of Goa is a big scam and BJP has resorted to unfair means. Throughout Goa people are protesting as to why the saffron party did such a low act to come to power, and why is the media not showing all this?”

“People of Goa are against the BJP; even after losing in the state they still won over only because of money power and by using the resources of the central government all in the wrong way just to make Manohar Parrikar the CM. This party will not last, as they are totally scripted and show dishonesty in politics.”

7.15am: Parrikar has expressed confidence that he will be able to prove his majority in the Goa assembly. “The number is very clear. So, I don’t see any reason that there has to be any apprehension,” he said on Wednesday.

Spotlight on Parrikar

The trust vote was ordered by the Supreme Court after the Congress complained that the governor had broken laws by not inviting the single-largest party to form the government.

Goa voted a hung House in the recently concluded assembly elections, with the Congress getting the most seats (17 in the 40-member assembly). But the BJP, which finished second with 13 seats, beat the Congress in forming a ruling alliance.

Parrikar acknowledged his party’s below-par performance in Goa in the five-state elections that saw the BJP registering landslide victories in Uttarakhand and the battleground state of Uttar Pradesh.

The loss of many ministers in Goa indicates that there was something wrong in the governance in the past two and half years, Parrikar told news agency ANI. “...let me identify that aspect,” ANI quoted him as saying.

Parrikar was Goa CM when he was appointed the Union defence minister in 2014. He was succeeded by Laxmikant Parsekar as chief minister, who lost his own seat this time.

Congress on offensive

The opposition party has accused the BJP of stealing the people’s mandate. Even on Wednesday, Congress’ Digvijaya Singh took a dig at Parrikar and posted on Twitter:

Congress leader Meem Afzal said misusing money and cheating were methods that the BJP had always used for political benefits.

But there are indications that not all was well in the Congress.

Days after a group of Goa leaders blamed the high command for the failure to form the government, MLA Vishwajit Rane said on Wednesday that he, along with five to six other MLAs, will quit if party vice-president Rahul Gandhi did not respond adequately.

Rane and his group of legislators wrote a letter to Rahul Gandhi complaining about the senior Congress leadership. Rane asserted that it was shocking how the whole situation was mismanaged by people in charge of the affairs in Goa.