Rane out, BJP joins De Souza in new Goa Govt

He will pick his ministerial team from these 23 MLAs tomorrow, five of whom were ministers in the Rane government. Dayanand Narvekar is likely to be installed as Deputy Chief Minister.

Governor Jacob said he sacked the Rane ministry after being convinced that it had lost the majority. “After considering all options, I took the decision in the interest of the people of Goa,” he told a hurriedly-called news conference at the RajBhawan.

The dismissal of the three-and-half-year old Rane government climaxed two days of political turmoil triggered by a split in Congress and ten break-away party MLAs forming a separate outfit headed by De Souza who was the deputy to erstwhile Chief Minister Rane.

Official sources in New Delhi said the Governor had acted under Article 174 of the Constitution which empowers him to decide on local political situation and the Centre was in no way involved in the decision-making.

As a prelude, earlier today in the House the three-day old crisis in the Pratapsingh Rane Government in Goa took a turn for the worse when Opposition Leader Kashinath Jhalmi was roughed up by ruling party members in the Assembly. This followed the Government’s attempts to pass the Financial Appropriation Bill, unmindful of the resistance put up by the Opposition.With the Opposition keeping up a steady clamour, Rane’s Ministers read out the demands and these were considered passed.

Violence erupted in the House after theadjournment, when Opposition MLAs blocked the Speaker from proceeding towards the Chair. Members from the treasury benches rushed to clear the path of the Speaker.

In the melee an Independent MLA Victoria Fernandes was nearly trampled.During the proceedings, Opposition members gathered around the Speaker’s table and when Jhalmi snatched a paper from the Speaker he was roughed up by Congress MLAs led by Industries Minister Luisinho Faleiro.

Meanwhile, the Congress has expressed shock at the dismissal of the Rane Government.

Party spokesman, Girija Vyas told newsmen that the Governor’s action was not justified as Rane had secured a vote of confidence yesterday.

The development, she said, had also come as a surprise because the matter had become sub judice.