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Journalism of Courage
PANAJI, MARCH 4: A split in the Congress party was averted in the early hours of Thursday morning when two of its legislators were prevented from crossing over to Chief Minister Fransisco Sardinha8217;s Goa People8217;s Congress.
According to party sources, five Congress MLAs or one-third of the party8217;s strength of 13 legislators in the Goa assembly had decided to defect to the GPC. However, former chief minister and party strongman Churchill Alemao moved quickly to whisk away two of the rebels before they could be taken away by the ruling party.
A senior MLA and two first-time legislators who were part of the original group have gone underground and could not be contacted. Churchill Alemao confirmed to The Indian Express that an attempt to split the party had been averted though he did not elaborate.
According to party sources, Congress legislators are unhappy with the leadership of party president Luizinho Faleiro. quot;A split in the Congress can happen any time if Faleiro doesn8217;t let Ravi Naik topple the Sardinha government and form the government,quot; a party leader said.
Faleiro who formed the government after winning the elections last year was toppled when Sardinha and eleven other legislators split the Congress and formed a government in alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party. Subsequently, Faleiro was removed as the leader of the Congress legislative party in the Goa assembly and replaced by Ravi Naik. Faleiro, however, retained the post of Congress party president.
Relations between Naik and Faleiro have not been quite smooth and this has prevented the Congress party from coming back to power. Party sources say attempts by the Congress to woo back some of its former members from the Sardinha camp has not been successful, as the party is unable to decide on a chief ministerial candidate. While the party legislators are strongly opposed to the leadership of Faleiro, he reportedly enjoys the confidence of party president Sonia Gandhi.
Meanwhile, there is battle of wits going on within the ruling coalition that celebrated its 100th day in office on Thursday. Nationalist Congress Party chief and former chief minister Wilfred D8217;Souza who initially lent support to the Sardinha government has turned against the chief minister accusing him of mala fide intentions while appointing people in government posts. He also hit out at the chief minister for increasing the state government8217;s contingency fund from Rs 10 crore to Rs 150 crore by issuing a notification last week.
D8217;Souza admitted that the political situation in Goa is quite fluid. quot;There are currents and cross-currents and both camps are grabbing each others8217; MLAs,quot; he said.
