THE OUTGOING Cabinet in Goa led by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, whose party BJP has won 20 of the state’s 40 Assembly seats, has decided to dissolve the Assembly on March 14. The tenure of the incumbent House ends on March 15. The BJP emerged as the single-largest party in the results announced Thursday, but fell one short of the majority mark. The party is, however, all set to return to power for the third consecutive time with support from three Independents and the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP), which has won two seats. “There was a meeting of the members of the previous cabinet and it was decided that a resolution to dissolve the Assembly will be passed on Monday morning. The resolution will be sent to the Governor on Monday. A meeting of the fresh legislature will be held as decided and further formalities will be carried out,” Sawant said after the meeting. On Friday, Goa Chief Electoral Officer Kunal and Sanjeev Kumar Prasad presented the Due Constitution Notification under Section 73 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, to Goa Governor P S Sreedharan Pillai for constituting a new Legislative Assembly of Goa. The BJP has yet to stake a claim to form the government. Sawant said the BJP’s central observers expected to arrive in Goa ahead of government formation had not yet arrived. Meanwhile, MGP leader Ramkrishna alias Sudin Dhavalikar told the Indian Express his party has decided to support the BJP in forming the next government because “work needs to get done”. The MGP, which announced its support to the BJP soon after the results on Thursday, had formed a pre-poll alliance with the Trinamool Congress (TMC), a new entrant to Goa’s political scene. Dhavalikar said: “The support is unconditional but I have only told them (BJP) not to split any more parties in Goa. They have agreed to that. I have spoken with Devendra Fadnavis who is the (BJP) election in-charge and I have spoken to (BJP national president, J P) Naddaji also.” Asked if the alliance with the TMC had been severed, Dhavalikar said: “There has been nothing on that because TMC did not win any seat. This is a different issue of being in the government. Otherwise how will work get done? Work has to get done, that is why we have given unconditional support (to the BJP).”
