Cong walks out as Guv begins speech

Team Herald

PANJIM: Congress MLAs protested Goa Governor Dr Mridula Sinha’s move not to invite them to form the government, by walking out of the Legislative Assembly on Thursday as soon as she rose to address the House. 

The MLAs, sporting black bands shouted slogans and subsequently staged a walkout. Sinha, however, continued delivering her speech, which went on smoothly thereafter.

“The conduct of the Goa Governor has been against the Constitution. Despite us emerging as the single largest party, she did not invite us to stake claim to form the government. The Governor was completely partial towards the BJP. She has murdered democracy,” Leader of the Opposition Chandrakant (Babu) Kavalekar, who led the protest, said. 

“Govenor in Goa was completely partial. She did not respect people’s mandate. Her act was against democracy and the Constitution,” Kavalekar added. 

This is the second time the Governor has faced a protest. In January 2016, former MLA Francisco (Mickky) Pacheco had walked out of the House when Sinha began addressing the House. Dressed in a black suit, the then Nuvem MLA walked back into the House only after she had left. His protest was because the proposal moved to the Governor by the then Laxmikant Parsekar-led government seeking a pardon in a criminal case in which he was convicted was rejected by the Governor.