By IANS
Panaji : Leaders of both the Congress party and its ally Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) held hectic parleys Thursday to save the seven-month-old Digambar Kamat government, which was plunged into a minority after the resignations of four legislators.
State Governor S.C. Jamir prorogued the Goa legislative assembly which was scheduled to meet at 2.30 p.m. Thursday. Opposition members created uproarious scenes in the assembly, protesting the move.
The move significantly came hours before the assembly was to meet to take up the crucial Appropriation Bill. There was a threat of the bill falling through, which would have led to the fall of the government.
Although NCP leader Sharad Pawar warned of strict action against the party MLAs if they did not change their mind, the state leaders reiterated that they have already withdrawn their support to the government and would not backtrack from it.
Congress general secretary B.K. Hariprasad has already arrived here to join Information and Broadcasting Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi to resolve the crisis, while the NCP has dispatched Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel to bring back the party MLAs.
Pawar, agriculture minister in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government, is believed to have assured the Congress leadership that he would get the MLAs back in the party-led coalition in the coastal state.
Formed in June 2007 after elections, the Kamat government was facing rebellion from an unspecified number of rebels – at least three of whom had come out openly and quit as ministers. The rebellion was believed to be stemmed by Vishwajit Rane, the health minister and son of former Congress chief minister Pratapsing Rane.
In the 40-seat assembly, the three ministers could be enough to topple the government. But the intrigue behind the scene means more could jump onto a winning bandwagon.
To Chief Minister Kamat’s relief, governments in Goa have seldom been toppled without the concurrence of the party in power in New Delhi despite the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) attempts.
So far, the BJP, which has 14 legislators, has preferred to play a behind-the-scenes role and allow ambitious Congress dissidents to dismantle their own government.
But, while the BJP seems reluctant to form a government of its own as of now, its support to forming any government is crucial and its leader Manohar Parrikar could attempt to head the next government at a latter stage.
Eight other MLAs – of the Congress and those currently supporting the ruling coalition – are seen as being part of the rebel group.
They include Speaker Rane, controversial party-hopper Babush Monserrate, brothers Sudin and Deepak Dhavlikar of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party, Mickky Pacheco and Nilkant Halarnkar (both NCP), and Reginaldo Lourenco of the Save Goa Front.
Dramatic developments here late Wednesday night followed a week of speculation that revolts were brewing, with Health Minister Rane and Monserrate being behind the attempt, supported by Leader of Opposition Parrikar.
In the pre-dawn hours of Wednesday, a meeting charted the strategy to topple the government during the vote on the Finance Bill.
Two Congress ministers were found to be absent from the house Wednesday, with one of them claiming he had gone to Mumbai for a medical check-up.
Failure to get in the necessary numbers to pass the bill led the Congress government to adjourn the house, on the argument that a serious road accident had taken place in the state.
Vishwajeet Rane was quoted here as saying: “I had to go with the numbers. I couldn’t remain out. Development and creation of employment is important for us to serve our constituents. Hence we had to go with the majority group.”