PANAJI
Ending his stoic silence on the failure of the Congress to form the government despite emerging as the single largest party, Goa Pradesh Congress Committee president and Navelim MLA Luizinho Faleiro on Friday lashed out at Goa Forward (GF) while also declaring that the Congress did not delay the forging of the coalition.
“We won the war but lost the battle. The cat is out of the bag. It was all a waiting game and there was no delay on the part of Congress. GF had plans of joining BJP government all along,” Faleiro stated.
Insisting that his stand on contesting all 40 seats has been vindicated, Faleiro thundered, “GF was in talks with the BJP even before the elections if Michael Lobo and Manohar Parrikar’s recent statements are to be believed. Why were the verbal assurances not converted into letters of support on March 11?”
He pointed out that the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party and GF gave conditional letters of support to the BJP assuring coalition if Manohar Parrikar is nominated as the chief minister. The Congress president demanded to know why GF refrained from giving a similar letter to the Congress promising support on the condition that Kamat or any other leader apart from Faleiro is hailed as CM.
At his aggressive best, Faleiro also laid bare the complete chronology of events which unfolded from March 11 till March 12.
The Congress Legislative Party meeting was delayed on the counting day owing to late results was fixed on March 12 at 11 am. In the meantime, 17 Congress MLAs and one independent MLA of the alliance were contacted.
“As the counting ended, our senior leaders met independent MLA Rohan Khaunte, NCP’s Churchill Alemao and two independents and secured their confirmations. We had 21 MLAs on our side, though we did not have their signatures,” Faleiro informed adding that it was Digvijaya Singh who suggested that Goa Forward could also be roped in.
Faleiro disclosed, “On the night of March 11, Digvijaya, K C Venugopal and Digambar Kamat met Vijai Sardesai of GFP at his residence. Sardesai said that he is ready for a coalition with Congress provided the PCC president Luizinho Faleiro doesn’t heading the CLP.”
Congress national vice-president Rahul Gandhi then contacted Faleiro whereby the GPCC president informed him that he would willingly step down. “I told Rahulji that I am ready to sacrifice for the party in the same manner that Sonia Gandhi made way twice for Manmohan Singh at the Centre,” Faleiro stated, and insisted that his victory lies in the emergence of Congress as the single largest party.
“Following this, Gandhi himself contacted Sardesai on phone, assuring him of all the demands and cooperation from our side. I readied a letter staking claim to the government and awaited the Governor’s invitation as per the established convention,” Faleiro explained.
On March 12, Khaunte was expected to arrive at Congress House by 9 am and GF leaders had promised a meeting soon after. Kamat was waiting for them till 12 pm.
At 2.30 pm, well-wishers of GF, Dr Francisco Colaco, Adv Cleofato Almeida Coutinho, Datta Naik and Shridhar Kamat, met the Congress delegation to finalise the agreement. “I informed them that I am for a secular mandate and that I am ready to step down,” Faleiro said. He further stated, “GF leaders made us wait for a couple of hours and then assured that they would come by 8.30 pm. But by then we discovered that they had already moved to the Raj Bhavan to form the government with BJP.”
