SAYS SHANTARAM ...-----------------------
* Congress will not shy away from forming an alternate government if the coalition government crumbles under its own weight
* I feel the time has come for the governor to rectify the mistake she committed last year by inviting
Parrikar to form the government
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
WAIT 'N' WATCH
-----------------------
PANAJI: The Congress finally broke its silence on the state of affairs plaguing the coalition government on Sunday, even as sources in the know said that All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Chella Kumar was likely to arrive on Sunday.
Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) Chief Shantaram Naik on Sunday told The Goan that the
Congress will not shirk its responsibility of forming an alternate government in the state if the coalition government crumbles under its own weight.
Shantaram even went to the extent of saying that governor Dr Mridula Sinha should rectify the wrong she had committed exactly a year ago when she had invited Manohar Parrikar to form the government without the mandate of the Goan people.
When The Goan drew attention of the state Congress president to the talks of leadership issues raising its head in the coalition government and the Congress’ stoic silence on providing any alternative, Shantaram made it abundantly clear that the Congress will not take any step that would rock the coalition boat. He, however, hastened to add that the Congress will not shy away from forming an alternate government if the coalition government crumbles under its own weight.
“I feel the time has come for the governor to rectify the mistake she committed last year by inviting
Manohar Parrikar to form the government when the BJP had bagged only 13 seats in the 2017 Assembly election. If the governor now comes across a situation where the numbers do not faovur the coalition government, she should rectify the mistake,” he said.
The GPCC president, who the other day, said that a constitutional crisis is staring at Goa in the absence of the Chief Minister, said on Sunday there’s no government running in the state. “I need not say this when the BJP MLAs such as deputy Speaker Michael Lobo and Nilesh Cabral have spoken on the state of affairs last week,” he said.
The statement made by the state Congress president comes exactly a year after results of the 2017
Assembly election declared on March 11 last year had showed the BJP relegated to just 13 seats, but the BJP leadership had formed the coalition government with the support of the regional parties, MGP and Goa Forward Party, besides three Independents.
