Cabinet expansion postponed till trust vote

| 04 February 2005 00:07 IST

Following demands from more quarters than the allotted quota of ministers, the Congress-led alliance today decided to postpone the cabinet expansion till they win the confidence vote.

Congress observer Margaret Alva, who flew down from Delhi today afternoon, also met Governor S C Jamir today evening, informing him that the ruling alliance is all prepared to seek confidence vote at any moment.

Chief minister Pratapsing Rane however had told the journalists earlier that he would seek confidence vote by presenting the budget in the House by 31 March.

If the governor agrees to his proposal, the Congress may then succeed in postponing the crisis at least for a month.

Rane has already inducted eight ministers in the cabinet, leaving scope for only four more to be accommodated. However, there are at least 11 more lined up in the row, including two former chief minister, eight former ministers and Congress spokesman Jitendra Deshprabhu.

In fact Alva had to rush down to Goa as Deshprabhu’s workers forced him to resign as the MLA if no solution comes out by 5 pm.

As the pressure was mounting up from all the sides, Alva had a prolonged meeting with all the legislators at a tourist resort here, before meeting the governor.

“Pressures of politics would be there since Goa has too many experienced people. But there is crisis”, she claimed.

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