PANAJI
All seven MLAs from the Opposition wore black attires and got ejected from the House after six of them sought to interrupt the Governor's address walking into the well of the House chanting 'Amchi Mhadei Amkam Zai' and holding placards on day one of the 4-day winter session of the Goa legislative assembly on Monday.
Leader of the Opposition Yuri Alemao led the demand for Governor Sreedharan Pillai to speak on the Mhadei issue first and was backed by five other colleagues from his Congress, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Goa Forward Party (GFP).
Viresh Borkar, the lone Revolutionary Goans Party (RGP) MLA was not present in the House at the time but came in much later and also got ejected.
Speaker Ramesh Tawardkar ordered Marshals to escort the Opposition MLAs out of the House when they sought to disrupt Pillai when he just began with his address.
Pillai initially continued speaking in the din but the Speaker interjected and asked Marshals to remove them but the MLAs had already begun walking out.
Later, speaking to the media outside the House, Alemao said that they were only demanding that the Governor first make a statement on the Mhadei row.
He condemned the act of switching off the mike of the Opposition Leader's seat even as he argued that Chief Minister Pramod Sawant should bow out if he cannot resolve the Mhadei issue.
"Aren't the 33 MLAs in power using Mhadei water? They should resign if they can't resolve the Mhadei issue. This government is not interested in resolving issues pertaining to peoples' welfare," Alemao said.
Alemao was accompanied by his two colleagues from Congress Carlos Alvares Ferreira and Altone D'Costa, and the two MLAs of the AAP -- Venzy Viegas and Cruz Silva.
Goa Forward Party MLA Vijai Sardesai briefed the media separately and said the Opposition MLAs were only demanding a statement from the Governor on an issue of life and death for Goans.
"We wanted the Governor to make a statement,” Vijai added.
Borkar also told the media later that he was very much with the Opposition on the Mhadei issue and the fact that he too had worn black is testimony to it.
The St Andre MLA and his RGP have come under severe criticism for not joining in support of the 'Save Mhadei, Save Goa Front' which organised the massive rally in Sanquelim on Monday evening.
The RGP has taken a solo route to highlight the Mhadei issue while all the other Opposition parties have backed the Front.
AAP's Viegas meanwhile called the movement to save Mhadei a people's movement and announced his party had taken the decision that neither he nor Cruz Silva will make any speech at the rally.
"We will continue to raise Mhadei-related matters and make the voice of the public movement heard in the Assembly," he said.
Later, Congress State president Amit Patkar also tweeted along similar lines saying they will only go around creating awareness to lend strength to the 'people's movement'.
