Panjim: The Congress efforts to dislod-ge the BJP government in Goa seem to have come momentarily unstuck following the demise of Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar.
Now, the ruling BJP coalition has to elect a new leader and make a fresh claim, which will have to be accompanied with a letter of support. “If the governor (Mridula Sinha) is not convinced, then she will have to invite the single largest party to form government.
That does not leave the BJP-led coalition in Goa with much time. The Congress is currently the single largest party in the state with 14 MLAs while the BJP has 13 in the 40-member Goa assembly. The Goa Forward Party, the MGP and Independents have three MLAs each while NCP has one legislator.
There was some untold drama during the day when senior Congress leader Digambar Kamat was constrained to dispel the impression that he was joining the BJP. Kamat had moved from the BJP to the Congress in 2005 and the buzz was that he is likely to switch sides again. But Kamat, who reached Delhi on Sunday afternoon, later clarified that he “won’t commit suicide by joining the BJP”.
The initial reports that the former Chief Minister was amenable to changing sides were largely fuelled by the precarious health condition of Parrikar, at that point. So, when Kamat was seen at the Panjim airport, his trip to Delhi was linked to the speculation that he was going to meet BJP leaders. ‘
At the airport, Kamat’s response was cryptic, “I am leaving for Delhi on a business trip. It is purely personal”. State Congress chief Girish Chodankar, in turn, accused the BJP of spreading rumours about Kamat. “This is a game plan of the BJP’s dirty tricks department which is spreading rumours to malign Kamat and the Congress,” he was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
