the goan I network
PANAJI
Legislators and ministers of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, including the 10 ex-Congress MLAs who crossed floors in mid-July and the two ex-MGP MLAs who preceded them, on Friday began a two-day camp to acclimatise themselves with the saffron party’s ideology, principles and disciplinary practices.
Party sources said, the camp is being attended by all MLAs, except for Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and Panaji MLA Atanasio (Babush) Monserrate, both of who had prior engagements.
A couple of other MLAs are also not at the camp being held at the iconic Mandovi hotel in the capital, where all the legislators, including the two Deputy Chief Ministers -- Manohar (Babu) Ajgaonkar and Chandrakant (Babu) Kavlekar -- and other cabinet ministers have been allotted rooms for overnight stay.
Interestingly, Art and Culture Minister, Govind Gaude, who is an Independent MLA and the only non-BJP member of the government also reportedly attended sessions at the camp briefly.
The familiarisation exercise conducted by the BJP for its legislators gains significance with a section of the party’s old guard, including some of its leaders involved with the party cutting political teeth in Goa in the 1980s and 1990s like former chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar and former Speaker Rajendra Arlekar having voiced their angst against the admission of legislators who are ideologically apart.
In October last year, two Congress MLAs -- Subhash Shirodkar and Dayanand Sopte -- had dramatically quit as MLAs and were inducted into the BJP. The Shirodkar-Sopte duo then fought the bye-election and won on the BJP ticket.
Earlier this year, less than a
fortnight after the death of former chief minister Manohar Parrikar and the subsequent succession of Sawant as Chief Minister, the BJP broke the back of ally MGP and admitted a splinter group comprising Ajgaonkar and PWD Minister Pauskar.
In mid-July, the saffron party pulled another surprise by admitting 10 of the 15 Opposition Congress MLAs and attaining an invincible numerical strength of 27 in the 40-member House.
