By IANS,
Panaji : The coalition government in Goa has managed to survive only because of “divine intervention”, says Chief Minister Digambar Kamat.
“As a chief minister there are so many pulls and pressures. The only reason the coalition government in Goa has survived is because of god,” Kamat said Sunday at an election rally in Bicholim, around 35 km from here.
He compared the role of a leader of a coalition government to “dombaris” or street acrobats who walk the tightrope with a pole held horizontally to balance the weight.
“I feel like a dombari walking a tightrope. There were times when I found myself falling, when I somehow managed to save myself and the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) legislators were left below gaping,” Kamat said.
The Congress leader heads a coalition government supported by the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak party (MGP), two independent legislators and one unattached legislator.
At the rally in support of Congress-NCP coalition candidate Jitendra Deshprabhu, Kamat claimed that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had performed a virtual miracle by successfully leading an 18 party coalition government at the centre for five years.
“The UPA (United Progressive Alliance) has 18 coalition partners, I have only a few. But still it is such a tough job. There are times when you feel your government is on its last breath when somehow a divine intervention saves it,” Kamat said.