Parrikar brings Goa storm for a Capital solution

Parikkar, on the other hand, traced the origins of the crisis to internal problems within his ministry. At a press conference this afternoon, he told reporters that ‘‘recent political events in the state were triggered off by my strong action against one of the ministers, Antonio ‘Babush’ Monserrate, a UGDP MLA who later joined the BJP’’.

Parrikkar claimed that Monserrate, as minister of Town and Country Planning, had ‘‘started indulging in massive corruption by converting land into commercial zone and bypassing the established urban development plans’’.

Therefore, ‘‘even at the risk of reducing my government’s majority in the House, on January 27 I stripped him of his portfolio,’’ said Parrikar, adding that he had taken the Leader of Opposition Pratapsinh Rane into confidence over the fact ‘‘that action against Monserrate had become necessary to save Goa’’.

Parikkar also said his government had the support of 18 MLAs in the 36-member Assembly, thereby revealing that it had not enjoyed a majority but had exactly the same numbers as the Opposition.

In other words, if the Speaker had not ordered the physical removal of independent MLA Filipe Neri Rodrigues, leading to pandemonium in the House, the Rane government would not have been able to ‘‘win’’ the confidence vote yesterday.

The BJP, however, steered clear of Parrikar’s candid confessions and trained their guns solely on the Congress’ ‘‘undemocratic tradition’’.

A 48-member party delegation led by former PM A.B. Vajpayee and party chief L.K. Advani presented a memorandum to the President today, urging him to ‘‘recall the Goa Governor for his unconstitutional, illegal, arbitrary and partisan action’’. They also demanded reinstatement of the Parrikar government.

The memorandum underlined that ‘‘as per established norms of parliamentary democracy, the Governor has no powers to annul the ruling of the Speaker.’’

The BJP, sources said, is aware that it’s case against the Governor’s ‘‘partisan’’ role is somewhat diluted by the clearly partisan attitude adopted by the Speaker in the House yesterday. However, faced with a possible defeat in Jharkhand and little hope of making major gains in either Haryana or Bihar, the party’s loss in Goa is particularly galling. The central leadership is, therefore, determined to make a big issue of the ‘‘unconstitutional’’ dismissal of the Parrikar government in the coming days, sources said.