Team Herald
PANJIM: Congress on Monday staked claim to form the government in Goa. The Opposition MLAs rushed to the Raj Bhavan to meet Governor Mridula Sinha, however, due to her unavailability the party submitted two memorandums to her office.
Leader of the Opposition Chandrakant (Babu) Kavalekar, who led the delegation to Raj Bhavan, said they have sought an appointment to meet Sinha on Tuesday.
A day after BJP’s three-member central team held a marathon meeting with the party and alliance partners, the Congress Legislative Party (CLP) called for an impromptu meet on Monday to discuss its strategy, where they decided to submit a memorandum to the Governor demanding they be given an opportunity to form the government.
“We have informed Her Excellency through our memorandums that a situation to undergo election within 18 months of the government’s formation, should not arise. The people of Goa have elected us for five years and if the present government is not capable of functioning, we should be given the chance being the single largest party. The present government is equivalent to non-existent,” he told reporters after submitting the memorandums.
The first memorandum raised apprehensions of dissolution of the Goa Legislative Assembly while the second memorandum signed by 16 MLAs demanded an invitation from the Governor to form the government.
“In view of the current prevailing imbroglio where Parrikar has lost the moral right to continue in office in the current state of his health and given the fact that the State government functioning has come to a grinding halt, the Indian National Congress is committed to giving a strong and stable functional government. Hence we demand that the government headed by Parrikar be dismissed and we being able to form a strong and stable government, stake claim to form the government and we should be invited to do so,” states the memorandum signed by all the Congress MLAs, a copy of which was circulated to media persons.
The Congress also pointed out that owing to other ministers also taking ill, the functioning of the government has come to a ‘dead still with no solution in sight’. The party also slammed BJP’s record of dissolving the Assembly in 2022 wherein Parrikar was the CM.
“Due to this (ailing CM not able to function), the CM is losing his grip over allies and also his own party. As a result, the administration has completely collapsed. The State is literally in a State of Emergency created by the ruling coalition due to the adamant attitude of Parrikar not to step down and provide a viable alternative,” the party said, apprehending a 2002 like situation wherein Parrikar had dissolved the Assembly. “With him forcing the decision upon them strengthens our suspicion that this will be repeated to somehow hold on to the chair and the government by the BJP by backdoor means, including forging of letters and signatures, in an attempt to claim that they have the numbers to seek dissolution of the Assembly,” the memorandum further stated.
This is the fourth time since Parrikar’s absence from the State that Congress has called on the Governor asking her to invite them to form the government.
