Congress stakes claim to form govt in Goa

Political activity in Goa gathered steam yesterday in the absence of ailing Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, with the Congress staking claim to form a government.
However, leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led alliance discussed leadership options to replace the chief minister who is being treated for pancreatic cancer at a Delhi hospital.
In a letter submitted to Governor Mridula Sinha, Congress leader Chandrakant Kavlekar demanded that in view of the political instability arising out of Parrikar’s absence from office, the state assembly should not be dissolved or held in suspended animation and instead the Congress, the single largest party, should be invited to take power.
“We have requested the governor that the government should not be dissolved and put the state on the path of elections. We have also asked her not to impose President’s Rule or keep the House in suspended animation. People have elected us for five years. Imposing an election after a mere 18 months is not good for anybody,” Kavlekar said.
“We also apprehended that false letters or statements may be attributed to leaders of INC (Indian National Congress), claiming there is a desire on the part of the INC to accept recommendation for dissolution of the Goa Assembly. This is not true and should not be accepted without a floor test,” the letter signed by 16 Congress MLAs said.
Sinha is not in Goa. The Congress MLAs are expected to meet her when she returns today.
Earlier, a team of BJP central observers, including general secretary Ram Lal, who on Sunday had met party MLAs and leaders from alliance parties and independent lawmakers, spoke to senior leaders from the party’s core committee as well as former legislators in a bid to draw up a list of potential alternative options for the post of chief minister.
Ram Lal met former chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar, former speaker Rajendra Arlekar, former power minister Mahadev Naik and former tourism minister Dilip Parulekar among others.
“We have said that the CM (Parrikar) should continue. It will be for the good... He is undergoing treatment. He will recover sooner or later. There was no discussion on whether someone else should be appointed in charge. The High Command will decide that,” Naik told reporters.
Ram Lal, however, initially tried to play down the discussions on leadership change, later insisting that the final call could be taken by BJP president Amit Shah.
“The government is strong and has the full majority, what is going to happen? It is not for me to decide (on a permanent solution). Whatever everyone has said I will place before the national president. What decision has to be taken will be taken. The government has to function,” Ram Lal said, adding that there was no proposal for a merger of any of the supporting alliance parties into the BJP.
Ram Lal’s comment came on a day when Amit Shah called on Parrikar at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences.
Meanwhile, two key allies – the Goa Forward and Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party – have put the ball in the BJP’s court as far the decision of leadership is concerned.
“We want a common solution from the BJP, which will be agreeable to all alliance partners,” MGP president Dipak Dhavalikar said, even as party sources suggested that the party has already pitched for Public Works Department Sudin Dhavalikar to be appointed as chief minister in Parrikar’s absence.