PANAJI
Governor P S Sreedharan Pillai has convened a session of the Goa legislative assembly on March 29 and appointed Savordem MLA Ganesh Gaonkar, who was pro-tem Speaker, to perform the duties of the Office of the Speaker.
Pillai has also fixed March 29 as the date for electing the Speaker.
The two-day session, which will begin a day after Chief Minister-designate Pramod Sawant and his cabinet is slated to be sworn-in, is also expected to take up the new government's confidence vote and rush through the business of passing a money bill, the vote-on-account, which statutes require to be fulfilled before March 31.
The piquant situation arising out of the delay in the government formation process will force a break from the convention where the Governor addresses the legislature's first session in any calendar year.
Results of the 40-member Goa legislative assembly held on February 14 were declared on March 10, in which the BJP emerged as the single-largest party winning 20 seats, just one short of a simple majority.
The party, however, delayed staking claim to form the new government proffering the argument that due to the Holi (Shigmo) celebrations in the State the process of swearing-in the new government has been deferred.
The Sawant-led government is now slated to take the oath of office and secrecy on March 28.
