The Congress in Goa on Tuesday demanded floor test by the BJP-led government to prove its majority in the state assembly amidst reports of the BJP’s central leadership attempting to find the replacement of ailing Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar.
Congress MLAs in Goa met Governor Mridula Sinha on Tuesday evening and place their demand for a floor test. Their demand came just days after Parrikar had to be flown to Delhi to be admitted in the AIIMS for the treatment of his pancreatic cancer.
The Congress legislators, led by Leader of Opposition Chandrakant Kavlekar, demanded that the governor should summon one-day session of the Assembly for a floor test.
The latest demand by the Congress comes just days after the Goa PCC President Girish Chodankar had exclusively told Janta Ka Reporter that he had written to Sinha asking her to not dissolve the assembly. In his letter, Chodankar had asked the governor to allow the Congress to form an alternative government in the coastal state.
After their meeting with Sinha, Kavlekar said that the governor had assured them that she would get back on the issue in the next three-four days.
During the meeting with the governor, reported PTI, the Congress MLAs also stated that the Parrikar-led coalition falled short of a majority in the 40-member Assembly and that the Congress had the required numbers to form the government.
In last year’s assembly elections, the BJP had managed to win only 13 out of 40 MLAs. The Congress had won 17 seats, emerging as the single largest party. But, the BJP had staked its claim to form the government with the help of Goa Forward Party led by Vijai Sardesai, Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party and Nationalist Congress Party.
Parrikar, who was was diagnosed with the fourth stage of pancreatic cancer in February, had to spend three months in the US for treatment and returned home only in June. He had travelled to the US again in early August for a follow-up checkup.
Chodankar had told Janta Ka Reporter that his fear of Parrikar recommending the dissolution of assembly was not a ‘mere hypothesis.’
“Mr Parrikar had dissolved the Assembly in 2002, when a similar situation of uncertainty had arisen. It is an open secret that he kept his whole cabinet in the dark and fraudulently created minutes of recommending dissolution of the Assembly, which was never discussed by the cabinet.
“We sincerely fear that Mr Parrikar may repeat the same drama once again and continue ruling for the period of six months till the Assembly election is declared along with the forthcoming Parliamentary election next year,” he said.
