the goan I network
VASCO
Goa Pradesh Congress Committee President Girish Chodankar on Monday afternoon said the Congress party had petitioned President Ram Nath Kovind not to allow dissolution of government without passing a cabinet resolution.
Speaking to reporters at Dabolim airport on his arrival from New Delhi, Chodankar said the government should not be dissolved before giving the Congress, which is the largest single party, a chance to form the government by proving its majority.
“As of now, there is no government or governance. It is likely that assembly elections may be held along with Lok Sabha election,” said Chodankar.
“We met the governor 5 times but we did not get any response and hence, we submitted our petition to the President of India. Today, there is no governance and no cabinet meeting has taken place in the last eight months. In this backdrop, it is likely that the government could be dissolved and in the past, the government was dissolved without a cabinet meeting. The Congress should be given a chance to form the government as it is the largest single party,” said Chodankar.
Chodankar rejected as totally baseless the BJP’s claims that some Congress MLAs have been in touch with them.
“They must take care of their MLAs now,” said Chodankar.
Rubbishing claims that MGP Supremo Sudin Dhavalikar had met AICC members, Chodankar said he had
last met Dhavalikar over a
year ago.
“Sudin Dhavalikar meeting AICC members is also wrong information created to confuse people. It is just a rumour emanating out of the fights between MLAs of coalition partners.”
It’s been around 15 months since I last met Dhavalikar during the Panjim by-elections. We have never met after that,” said Chodankar.
“We are keeping a watch and if given a chance, we will prove our majority. Today, there are many issues like mining that are still unresolved and there is nothing the government is doing about it. Looking at the present situation, we feel there could be early elections or simultaneous elections of assembly and Lok Sabha. We are strengthening our party at the grass root levels in all constituencies and district and ward committee meetings have already begun,” he informed reporters.
Asked if the Congress
was open to alliances, Chodankar replied: “We want the Congress to be strong enough across Goa and alliances can be discussed at a later stage.”
