PANAJI
As the over three-week long monsoon session of the Goa Legislative Assembly is set to begin on Tuesday (July 18th), the badly outnumbered by defections Opposition has a tough ask if it hopes to put the Pramod Sawant government and its ministers on the mat during the 18 sittings including the three Fridays on which private members business will get priority.
There is no dearth of issues on which the Opposition benches can bank on to whip the government with -- the uncertainty over re-start of mining operations, the Mhadei imbroglio, the row over Smart City works in the capital, the excise scam, price rise and rising crime, road accidents and the TCP's large scale land conversions and sweeping changes to building laws in green zones.
However, Leader of Opposition Yuri Alemao and partly fractured seven-MLA-strong Opposition is still hampered by its single digit strength after last September's defection by eight Congress MLAs to the treasury benches.
Unmindful of the numbers stacked against them, Alemao, put up a brave front and promised that the Opposition will "together" expose the government's wrongdoings.
"We may be just seven against the government's 32 but it will not deter us from taking on the treasury benches," Alemao said.
Nonetheless, like in the past the brute majority it enjoys in the House is expected to be relied on heavily by the government in facing the Opposition during the course of the entire session.
The Sawant-led government enjoys the support of 32 members (27 of the BJP, two of the MGP and the three Independents) while the Opposition has seven -- Congress which has three, two of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and one each of the Goa Forward Party and Revolutionary Goans Party.
Last week, Alemao held a meeting to strategise for the session and build on the semblance of unity he has managed to forge among the multi-party seven legislators from the Opposition.
From the government side, meanwhile, the monsoon session is crucial to discuss and pass the 2023-24 budget, including the demand for grants for each individual department.
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