Goa carnival is cut short, Central rule clamped

The Centre, Patil said, was not happy with what happened in the Goa Assembly today and has taken suo-motu action without waiting for the Governor’s report.

However, it’s learnt that the Cabinet decision was actually spurred by a mixture of mixture of fear and hope: fear that a Supreme Court hearing on Monday on Goa may go against the party and hope fuelled by Governor S C Jamir’s report that said the Congress stood a better chance two months later when polls are held in five seats where BJP MLAs had quit.

Chief Justice R C Lahoti, who adjourned to Monday the hearing on ex-CM Manohar Parrikar’s appeal against his government’s dismissal, said today that the court would keep a close eye on developments in Goa and hear the appeal on merit as it would not become infructuous after the confidence vote.

Meanwhile, Governor Jamir’s report to the Centre also hints at the lack of support Rane enjoys within his own ranks. The Governor is learnt to have conveyed his displeasure at pro-tem Speaker Fransisco Sardinha’s role in the Assembly today. Sardinha barred United Goans’ Democratic Party’s (UGDP) lone MLA Matanhy Saldanha from voting, while casting his own vote to help Rane break a 16-16 tie.

‘‘What has happened in the Assembly today is not acceptable to us. It is not proper to have one member not to vote. This is exactly what has been done by the previous (BJP) government,’’ said Shivraj Patil.

The Assembly session in Panaji was over in a few minutes after Sardinha disallowed Saldanha from voting, ensuring that the ruling Congress front and the BJP combine were tied at 16 votes.

Then, Sardinha used his casting vote to ensure Rane’s victory.

The Speaker told the House that he was restraining Saldanha from voting as an interim measure on the basis of a disqualification petition filed against the MLA by Congress MLA and spokesperson Jitendra Deshprabhu.

Soon after Rane was declared elected, BJP leaders rushed to Raj Bhavan, where they raised slogans against the Governor, who was closeted with aides and legal advisors.

‘‘The Speaker violated the Governor’s orders, which said that only the business of motion of vote of confidence be conducted in the House. By disallowing Matanhy Saldanha to vote, the pro-tem Speaker also conducted other business,’’ ex-CM Parrikar said.

Parrikar said he had received a letter from Jamir’s secretary which said: ‘‘Only following business be considered and dealt with by the house, in its session summoned by him (the governor) to be held at 2.30 pm on march 4—motion seeking vote of confidence by Chief Minister Pratapsinh Rane.’’

Parrikar had written to the Governor, questioning the jurisdiction of a pro-tem speaker on entertaining any disqualification petitions, BJP leaders said.

The Rane Government, which was sworn in on February 2 after the dismissal of Parrikar’s BJP-led government, had been given 30 days to prove its majority—that deadline expires tomorrow. It is Goa’s third trust vote in a little more than a month.

After the vote, Sardinha told reporters that he had also decided against letting Independent MLA and Deputy CM Filipe Neri Rodrigues vote in the trust vote. Rodrigues was disqualified by Sardinha’s predecessor Vishwas Satarkar who himself had then resigned.