PANAJI
The Opposition Congress, a major loser in the stunning defection of eight MLAs less than six months after the 2022 elections in September last year, is veering towards moving the courts against the appointment of Aleixo Sequeira as a minister in the State cabinet.
On Wednesday, Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) President Amit Patkar submitted a memorandum to Goa Legislative Assembly Speaker Ramesh Tawadkar demanding that he immediately disqualify Sequeira in the disqualification petitions pending before him.
Speaking to the media later, Patkar questioned how Sequeira could be appointed a minister when the disqualification petition under the Xth Schedule of the Constitution is pending before the Speaker.
“I have submitted a memorandum to the Speaker demanding that he immediately disqualify the newly appointed Minister Aleixo Sequeira in the pending disqualification petition. He should be disqualified,” Patkar told journalists after submitting his memorandum to the Speaker's office.
“I have also urged the speaker to to write to Governor Pillai on the same issue and to disqualify him,” Patkar said.
Sequeira was among the eight Congress MLAs, which also included the then Opposition Leader Michael Lobo and former chief minister Digambar Kamat, who claimed to have split from the Congress and 'merged' with the ruling BJP in mid-September last year.
He was inducted into the Pramod Sawant cabinet on Sunday after former PWD Minister Nilesh Cabral resigned.
Patkar and his pre-decessor Girish Chodankar had filed separate disqualification petitions against all the eight legislators who switched sides. The matter was also taken up with the Bombay High Court at Goa and in the proceedings Tawadkar had informed that he is hearing the petitions and will dispose them.
