the goan I network
PANAJI
The Congress has finally picked Digambar Kamat to lead its legislature wing in Goa, opting for experience over youth and is set to be designated the Opposition Leader in the Goa legislative assembly by Speaker Rajesh Patnekar.
Kamat’s ‘election’ was approved by the All India Congress Committee on Wednesday, a statement issued by GPCC president Girish Chodankar said.
Stunned with last week’s exodus of 10 of its 15 legislators led by Deputy Chief Minister Chandrakant Kavlekar, who was at the time the incumbent Opposition Leader, the Congress was struggling to make a choice left as it was with five MLAs, four of who were former chief ministers - Kamat, Pratapsingh Rane, Ravi Naik and Luizinho Faleiro - besides third term legislator Aleixo Reginald Lourenco.
Sources said, a secret ballot among the five MLAs was set to be held to help it make the choice but Chodankar’s statement did not say whether a secret ballot was indeed held.
Faleiro however had opted out and publicly said he has asked the party to keep him out of the process of choosing the leader while Lourenco had indicated his willingness to take on the mantle. Lourenco through social media posts had also expressed dissent over the decision to hold a secret ballot to break the deadlock.
Kamat, who is serving his sixth consecutive term as Margao MLA ever since he was first elected in 1994, has been the only chief minister to complete an uninterrupted full five-year-term after the House strength spiked from 30 to 40 once Goa attained Statehood in 1987.
His first three terms (1994-99, 1999-2002, 2002-05) were as a BJP legislator before he quit and got re-elected on a Congress ticket in 1995. Since
then he has stayed put in the Congress and rose to be the chief minister in the 2007-12 term.
He had started off as a councilor of the Margao Municipal Council in the 1980s and fought the 1989 general election on the Congress ticket when he lost narrowly to the late Ananta Narcinv alias Babu Naik.
Chodankar meanwhile has congratulated Kamat and expressed confidence that with his long political experience he will take up issues that matter to the people and expose the corruption and anti-Goa policies of the government.
No proposal from
Cong yet: Speaker
PANAJI: Goa Speaker Rajesh Patnekar said his office is yet to receive any proposal from the Congress party giving a name of a nominee from amongst its legislators for the post of the Opposition Leader. Patnekar said he will have to check from records and past conventions what is the legislative strength required for designating an Opposition Leader.
Legislature sources said, the Speaker may consult Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on the issue.
