Team Herald

PANJIM: Admitting that they no longer have a majority to stake claim to form the government, Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) president Girish Chodankar said the ruling BJP had engineered a split in the party by taking away two MLAs to “manufacture a majority on the floor of the House”. 

Chodankar, who sounded upset over the political development, alleged that BJP is out to break and poach their MLAs either using money power or terror. 

Congress, that had initially won 17 seats in the March 2017 Assembly elections, has now been currently reduced to 14. 

“The split which was engineered by BJP indicates that the party did not have a majority on the Floor of the House. The entire exercise was done to manufacture the majority,” Chodankar said. “BJP is out to break and poach MLAs either using money power or terror because earlier also some of the MLAs have said that they have been threatened and their families are being threatened,” he said.

“Even some of the MLAs have said that they are getting threats. We had gone against corruption in the State which has disturbed the BJP-led government,” he claimed. 

Chodankar assured that the remaining 14 MLAs are intact and ruled out the possibility of any further split in the party. 

Asked whether the party will continue its effort to stake claim to form a government, Chodankar admitted that now they are left with no numbers. “Both sides it is 14-14 now. We have no numbers,” he said. BJP also has 14 MLAs, and along with the coalition partners they number 23 in the 40-member State assembly. Congress had on Monday petitioned President Ram Nath Kovind to direct Goa Governor Dr Mridula Sinha to allow them a floor test and prove their majority.