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BJP to stake claim to power in Goa

Sandesh Prabhudesai in Panjim

With two splinter groups of the Congress joining in, the Bharatiya Janata Party has decided to withdraw from the Francisco Sardinha-led coalition government in Goa on Sunday.

The BJP is likely to stake its own claim to form the government, provided it receives formal approval for the move from the party's central leadership.

Manohar Parrikar, who is tipped to be the next chief minister, will submit a letter of withdrawal of support by the BJP as well as the resignations of the party's three ministers to Governor Mohammed Fazal, who is arriving in Panjim on Sunday from Delhi.

With eight Congressmen belonging to two splinter groups, including Leader of the Opposition Ravi Naik, joining the 10-member BJP legislative party on Saturday afternoon, Parrikar has claimed the support of 22 legislators in the 40-member assembly.

One group of four MLAs led by Naik split from the 10-member Congress Legislature Party on Saturday morning and joined the BJP after submitting a letter about the split to Speaker Pratapsing Rane.

Another four MLAs from the splinter group led by Shaikh Hassan, which had left the Congress earlier on 15 August, also merged into the BJP, leaving Suresh Parulekar alone. Though the BJP has not agreed to admit him, the latter has announced his support to the new government from outside.

Besides this, the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party, which has two legislators, as well as independent MLA Isidore Fervidness have declared their support to the BJP.

This leaves only 18 persons in the opposition, including 11 from Sardinha's group, seven from the Congress, including Speaker Rane, and Dr Wilfred de Souza, sole legislator of the Nationalist Congress Party.

Though this clearly indicates that the BJP will form the government, it all depends on whether Sardinha, who is rushing back home on Sunday, cutting short an official visit to Australia, will resign gracefully. "Otherwise the governor should tell him to prove his majority in the House within two or three days," said Parrikar.

The BJP politician, however, expects Sardinha to accept defeat and resign gracefully.

The Sardinha camp on its part continues to claim that it is in a position to counter the BJP move and save the government. But most of the chief minister's Cabinet colleagues are abroad in the USA and Hong Kong. In fact, foreign junkets by ministers of Sardinha's Goan People's Congress at the cost of the state exchequer is one of the reasons cited by the BJP for pulling out from the coalition. The other reasons are an "anti-people stand" on issues like evacuee property in Mayem, misuse of state funds and frequent transfers of officers.

Except for Babu Azgaonkar, who has defected for the first time, all the other new entrants to the BJP are habitual defectors, including former Union minister Ramakant Khalap, who has defected twice since last year.

Though Parrikar admits that the BJP's new recruits are all professionals changing sides merely for power, he claims that he will be able to run the government while keeping corruption in check, if not eliminating it totally.

Goa Pradesh Congress Committee chief Luizinho Faleiro, however, said the developments had clearly exposed the intentions of the BJP as well as those who had split from the Congress.

EARLIER REPORTS:
3 BJP ministers resign in Goa
Four legislators quit Congress in Goa
Manohar Parrikar may head BJP government

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