PANAJI
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant is set to face his toughest leadership test since taking over the State's reins at Monday's meeting of all MLAs he has called to discuss the Mhadei imbroglio.
He has come under direct attack from the Opposition after last week's development where Karnataka got the Centre's nod for its contentious minor dam projects at Kalasa and Bhandura to divert an aggregate 3.9 tmc of Mhadei river water.
The meeting was called for by Sawant in the face of mounting pressure after Union Minister of State and North Goa MP, Shripad Naik, uncharacteristically flagged the Centre's unilateral decision in favour of Karnataka as an "injustice to Goa".
The meeting of all MLAs called by Sawant is scheduled to be held at 4 pm at the Goa legislative Assembly Complex at Porvorim.
The Mhadei water sharing dispute between Goa and Karnataka is being adjudicated by the Mahadayi Water Dispute Tribunal, which in August 2018, passed an award allocating 13-odd tmc of water to Karnataka, including the 3.9 tmc the State intends to divert through its Kalasa and Bhandura dam projects.
Sawant meanwhile, has said his government will press with the Centre for constituting the Mhadei Water Management Authority comprising representatives of all three riparian State governments -- Goa, Karnataka and Maharashtra -- as mandated by the MWDT.
At Monday's meet, Sawant is likey to face a demand for his resignation from the Opposition who has been citing his "weak leadership" as the main reason for the Centre favouring Karnataka in the dispute.
The Congress' Leader of Opposition Yuri Alemao has also called a meeting of all seven Opposition legislators at 2 pm on Monday in his chamber to finalise a common strategy to be adopted at the legislators' meet convened by the government.
Alemao has already demanded that Sawant take an all party delegation to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the demand for revoking the sanctions given to the Kalasa and Bhandura DPRs by the Central Water Commission.
The Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) is also holding an emergency meeting on Monday morning to finalise its stand over the latest Mhadei developments.
Meanwhile, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Goa Forward Party's (GFP) Vijai Sardesai and RGP's Viresh Borkar have also severely attacked Sawant and the BJP government for their failure to protect Goa's interest in the Mhadei dispute.
AAP's Venzy Viegas said the onus is on Sawant to make his stand clear. Like Shripad Naik, he too should come clean at the meeting to admit that the Centre's decision is against Goa's interest and make public his position if his government fails to convince the Centre to reverse it.
GFP's Sardesai has been the most vocal of the Opposition MLAs directly attacking Sawant and demanding that he resign on the issue.
