Goa elections 2017: BJP swearing-in today, Congress dials smaller allies
On Monday, Parrikar set the stage for his return as Chief Minister by resigning as Union Defence Minister — Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will take additional charge of the portfolio.
Manohar Parrikar in Panaji on Monday. Source: Nirmal Harindran
Amid fears of a last-minute U-turn by one of its alliance partners and hectic negotiations for ministerial berths, the BJP was busy making preparations for a coalition government, headed by Manohar Parrikar, to take oath in Goa Tuesday, following an invitation from Governor Mridula Sinha.
On Monday, Parrikar set the stage for his return as Chief Minister by resigning as Union Defence Minister — Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will take additional charge of the portfolio.
But late in the evening, with the Congress approaching Supreme Court against the Governor’s decision, doubts emerged over Goa Forward’s support for the BJP-led move.
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The Goa party has been under fire, particularly on social media networks, over its “betrayal” in supporting a Parrikar-led formation after winning three seats in the assembly election on an anti-BJP plank. The party’s president Prabhakar Timble had also quit his position in protest against the decision to align with the BJP.
“The Governor, under the Constitution, should have called the single largest party first and taken stock of the position. If the other side was claiming majority, the Governor’s office still needed to call the Congress to discuss the situation. Elections are the people’s mandate and that needs to be respected first,” said Timble, who was the former Goa state election commissioner.
Congress sources told The Indian Express that they were “still in talks with our allies”. “It’s not over yet,” said a party leader.
The BJP, however, put up a brave front with the party’s state president Vinay Tendulkar saying that along with Parrikar, eight other candidates will take oath Tuesday, including two winning candidates each from Goa Forward and Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP), and two Independents.
BJP sources said the state leadership stepped up efforts to shore up support following a message from Delhi that Prime Minister Narendra Modi “was clear that the government had to be raised”.
Sources said the party leadership was also awaiting a letter of support from Churchill Alemao of NCP to close in on 22 seats out of 40. The Congress, too, has hoping to rope in Alemao using its channels in Delhi to approach the NCP leadership.
While the portfolios were still under discussion, BJP leaders said two ministries each are likely to be allotted to Goa Forward and MGP. They said that Rohan Khaunte, who won with Congress support from Porvorim, and Govind Gaude, the other Independent winner from Priol, would be given ministerial berths.
Sources said the BJP has decided to retain the post of Speaker and Deputy Speaker as “non-negotiable” posts. They said that the post of deputy chief Minister may be done away with, too. “That seat could cause trouble as we have three contenders, the previous deputy CM Francisco D’Souza, MGP’s Sudin Dhavlikar and Goa Forward’s Vijai Sardesai,” said sources.
Speaking to PTI, Parrikar said, “The decision on the number of ministers and other issues are being currently worked out.”
In the Congress camp, sources said the delay in staking claim, despite emerging as the single largest party after the assembly polls with 17 of the 40 seats, was because the leaders had “held meetings with all MLAs as per protocol”.
Support was also divided within the party for the three main contenders in the fray for the chief minister’s position. “There were three sides. (Congress state chief) Luizinho Faleiro wanted the position of chief minister, so did (former chief minister) Digambar Kamat. Pratapsingh Rane, another former chief minister, wanted his son Vishwajit Rane to be elected as chief minister,” said a leader.
Sources said the winning Congress candidates who met AICC general secretary in charge of Goa, Digvijaya Singh; Kerala MP K C Venugopal; and Dr A Chellakumar, from the Goa desk of AICC, were split in their support for the three.
In Delhi, meanwhile, a statement from the President’s Secretariat said that President Pranab Mukherjee has accepted the resignation of Parrikar from the Union Cabinet “with immediate effect.”
“Further, as advised by the Prime Minister, the President has directed that Shri Arun Jaitley, Cabinet Minister, shall be assigned the charge of the Ministry of Defence, in addition to his existing portfolios,” it said.
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