Trust vote again or President's Rule?

| 01 March 2005 18:08 IST

Goa has once again plunged into the milieu of uncertainty as the 40-memebr state Assembly has reduced to 34 with 17 members divided equally on both the sides.

Following resignations by the speaker as well as the deputy speaker belonging to the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party yesterday, Governor S C Jamir yesterday appointed senior Congress legislator Francisco Sardinha as the protem speaker.

It needs to be seen what next move the governor takes – to reconvene the Assembly once again to seek vote of confidence or recommend imposition of the President’s Rule.

The situation has arisen since former speaker Vishwas Satarkar adjourned the House sine die after announcing his resignation yesterday, without even moving the trust vote. The House was convened for chief minister Pratapsing Rane to seek confidence vote.

Rane was appointed the chief minister of the Congress-led alliance after the Manohar Parrikar’s BJP-led government was dismissed on 2 February.

Parrikar was reduced to minority as four of his BJP legislators resigned and joined the Congress camp, in order to topple his government, while two non-BJP ministers of the alliance withdrew their support.

While the situation had remained at 18 each on both the sides even after this, senior BJP member Digambar Kamat also resigned last week, in order to strengthen the Rane camp.

In order to counter this move, former speaker Satarkar disqualified deputy chief minister Philip Neri Rodrigues, an independent, claiming that he had joined the BJP two years ago.

The Parrikar government had collapsed after Rodrigues and another minister Sudin Dhawalikar (Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party) had withdrawn their support.

In addition, Satarkar along with deputy speaker Narahari Haldankar also resigned yesterday, strengthening their position to 17.

With Sardinha being appointed as the protem speaker, the Congress-led alliance has however now reduced to 16. He can vote only in case of a tie.

In order to counter this move further, the Congress camp is now planning to move a disqualification petition against the sole United Goans Democratic Party legislator Mathany Saldhana, who is supporting the BJP by defying the party orders to support Rane.

Meanwhile, both Rane as well as Parrikar have claimed that they could still prove their majority, if given a chance. Parrikar has in fact demanded immediate dismissal of Rane government, claiming that he had failed to win the trust vote.

Pramod Mahajan, the central BJP leader, however has opposed the proposal to impose President’s rule by keeping the Assembly under suspended animation till by-polls are held in six constituencies that have fallen vacant due to resignations and disqualifications.

If Rane cannot seek the confidence vote once again, the Congress is desperately trying to retain his government as caretaker while the Assembly is kept under suspended animation.

The ball is now in the governor’s court, to decide whether to give one more chance to Rane or impose the President’s rule.

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