Who is responsible for the President's rule ?

GOANEWS DESK, PANAJI | 10 February 1999 10:58 IST

Could the situation of prematurely dissolving the Goa Assembly and imposing President’s rule have been avoided if the four-member Bharatiya Janata party had not pulled the rug from under the feet of Dr Wilfred de Souza, who had staked claim to form the alternate government?

Probably, yes, provided de Souza had given a firm assurance to the BJP that he would recommend dissolution immediately after taking over once the Congress chief minister Luizinho Faleiro either loses the trust vote or quits by Monday.

But no such step was taken as most of the Goan politicians firmly believed in a neo-political theory that no legislator actually wants to go home, but demand for dissolution is just an eyewash to satisfy majority Goans, who were fed up with the disgusting greedy game of musical chairs.

After having seven chief ministers in five years earlier by grossly misusing all possible loopholes in the anti-defection act, Goa had once again elected a hung Assembly in 1994 elections. Instead of trying for viable combination to rule, the shameless politicians had once again preferred the defection game.

Pratapsing Rane was made the Congress chief minister by engineering defections in the then 12-member Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party. However, his three and a half year-rule came to an end when then deputy chief minister de Souza revolted along with nine others in July last year to form a coalition government along with the MGP and the BJP.

But the 40-member House once again witnessed a coup within de Souza’s Goa Rajiv Congress with four of his members staging a comeback, to make Faleiro the new Congress chief minister in November last, but with a majority of only one member.

However, his tottering government, allowed by governor Lt Gen (Retd) J F R Jacob, was thrown into minority last week with only two of his ministers resigning on 3 February and joining hands with de Souza to bring his combined coalition back to power within 68 days.

It was obvious that Faleiro would lose the trust vote on Monday while de Souza would be invited to form the coalition government, supported by the MGP, the BJP, two independents and 76-year old Congress minister Deu Mandrekar, who was part of all the three governments earlier.

But the situation changed suddenly when the BJP, after Faleiro submitted his resignation on Monday, gave in writing to the governor that they would not support any government but would prefer dissolution of the House and President’s rule, to stop defections and counter-defections.

With the stand taken by these four MLAs, the de Souza camp was left with only 17 members while the Congress had 18 on its sides, besides the speaker belonging to them. Allowing anybody to make it 21 could only mean further defections.

De Souza still bought time from the governor till 8 pm to stake a fresh claim, but failed to garner support by engineering defections in the Congress camp. Having no other option, the GRC as well as the MGP then demanded in writing dissolution and President’s rule in Goa.

"The BJP backstabbed us", alleges de Souza, who also lost the opportunity to remain as a caretaker chief minister if he had recommended dissolution after forming the government with BJP’s help. He refuses to admit that he was not intending to dissolve the House.

"He wanted to join back the Congress by backstabbing us, after forming the government", shoots back Manohar Parrikar, the local BJP strategist and MLA. He also discloses de Souza’s plan to elect former union minister Eduardo Faleiro as the Rajya Sabha MP in June and face Assembly elections only in November as per the normal schedule.

Though de Souza strongly refutes this allegation, Faleiro confirms that many GRC members had approached the Congress leaders here and in Delhi, requesting for a homecoming. Rather than denying, he also maintains silence over whether they also included Dr Willy.

Presuming all these possibilities, discloses a reliable source in the BJP, that the local party leaders had sought permission from the central leadership to withdraw support to Dr Willy if he does not give a firm assurance of dissolution and create a situation for invoking section 356. "Even prime minister Atel Bihari Vajpayee was aware of it", claim the sources.

The governor has also now reportedly recommended a strong case for invoking 356, stating that no political party is in a position to form the government and exploring any further possibility would only amount to further horsetrading.

While the most dejected persons are the politicians with the present situation, people at large are very happy as the Raj of selfish politicians would be over at last, paving way for fresh polls, probably by May end. 


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