PANAJI
On a day dotted with high drama and political innuendo, the Opposition Congress late on Sunday evening resigned to a mutiny within its legislative party ranks although it believes it has limited the damage with its rear-guard action.
AICC general secretary in-charge of Goa Dinesh Gundu Rao accused his own party leaders -- Leader of Opposition Michael Lobo and former chief minister Digambar Kamat -- of hatching the conspiracy all along.
By late Sunday evening it became clear that at least five Congress MLAs under Kamat's leadership will break ranks. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is obviously their final destination but the ruling party was shy of directly exposing its link to the developments.
Nonetheless, there were reports that the Kamat-led MLAs include Michael Lobo and his wife Delilah, Kedar Naik (Saligao) and Rajesh Phaldesai (Cumbharjua) were physically present at Chief Minister Pramod Sawant's official 'Mahalaxmi' bungalow at Altinho on Sunday evening.
As of now, however, the manner and timing is uncertain of the actual split and merger or whether it will be resignations of MLAs to force bye-elections if the Congress rebel camp fails to touch eight, the number necessary to avoid disqualification under the Xth Schedule of the Constitution.
Political sources in the know of the developments said the picture will be clear on Monday morning by the time the Goa legislative Assembly meets at 11.30 am to commence the monsoon session.
Earlier in the day, Gundu Rao who had shifted base to Margao after Saturday's meeting with 10 of the party's 11 MLAs in a Panaji hotel, had announced that all 11 MLAs will be paraded before the media at a press conference at party headquarters in Panaji at 6.30 pm even as strong rumours about a group of MLAs deserting the party persisted.
Rao kept postponing the press conference lying in wait for the arrival of the MLAs and eventually held it at 8.45 pm with just five MLAs showing up.
Meanwhile, there were conflicting reports circulating in political and media circles through the whole of Sunday as to the total number of Congress MLAs who are set to jump ship.
Some said eight MLAs (the number required to make it legit under the Xth Schedule) would break away from the Congress. Another report said the size of the break-away group will be nine and a couple of national digital media platforms reported that it was 10 MLAs, quoting unnamed sources in the Congress as well as the BJP.
However, in terms of concrete evidence of the fluidity of the State's political situation, the first indication came by noon when the Legislature Secretariat issued an order cancelling the election of the Deputy Speaker of the Goa legislative assembly which was slated to be held on Tuesday (July 12).
Also the presence of Speaker Ramesh Tawadkar in his office on a Sunday was another indicator that politics was cooking.
Tawadkar however sought to explain to the media that he was in office only to ensure preparedness for the Assembly's monsoon session, slated to begin from Monday.
He feigned ignorance about the rumours related to Congress MLAs joining the BJP.
There was also frenzied action in the BJP camp as well, the epicentre of which was Chief Minister Pramod Sawant's official bungalow at Altinho.
Unconfirmed reports also said that Bhupendra Yadav, the Union Environment Minister and also national general secretary of the BJP had arrived in Goa and was stationed at the CM's official bungalow.
No authoritative source in the BJP, however, was willing to either confirm or deny the presence of Yadav. Nonetheless there was hectic movement in and out of the bungalow where Sawant along with BJP General Secretary (Organisation) Satish Dhond and BJP State President Sadanand Shet Tanavade had camped.
