By IANS
New Delhi : Congress leaders went into a fire-fighting mode Wednesday as the party-led government in Goa plunged into a crisis after some legislators threatened to withdraw their support.
The seven-month-old Digambar Kamat government had to put off a financial bill – Goa Appropriation Bill, 2008 – by a day due to the crisis in the ruling coalition.
The Congress has sent Information and Broadcasting Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi to resolve the crisis in Goa, a state known for political instability.
The Goa episode came as a second jolt of the day for the Congress after its Andhra Pradesh ally Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) threatened that its MPs and legislators would resign if the central government did not take a decision on the issue of separate statehood for Telangana.
According to Congress sources here, independent MLA and Health Minister Vishwajeet Rane, son of former chief minister Pratapsingh Rane, triggered the revolt in Goa.
Rane and United Goans Democratic Party MLA Atanasio Monserratte were targeting Finance Minister Dayanand Narvekar over the proposed Rajiv Gandhi IT habitat in the state.
Monseratte was opposing the IT habitat while the finance minister was keen on it.
Rane, according to the sources, has been persuading the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MLAs to withdraw the support for the Kamat government. However, the NCP has denied any such move.
The party sources added that the Congress leaders would meet to discuss whether the ongoing assembly session should be adjourned sine die soon.
In the 40-member Goa assembly, the ruling coalition of the Congress, NCP, Save Goa Front and independents has 23 MLAs. Monserratte extends issue-based support to the Kamat government.
The main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has 14 legislators and the Maharashtra Gomantak Party has two.