PANJIM: Ending days of speculation, @TeamManoharParrikar sailed through the floor test on Thursday proving the coalition government’s majority in the 40-member Legislative Assembly.
Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar won the floor test with 22 MLAs voting in support of the government, including NCP’s Churchill Alemao, 12 BJP MLAs (protem Speaker excluded), three each from MGP and Goa Forward and three Independents.
The Congress failed to match its strength of 17 as Vishwajit Rane abstained from voting. He later submitted his resignation to the protem Speaker. The Valpoi MLA disappeared from the House as soon as he was administered the oath as MLA.
Protem Speaker Siddharth Kuncalienkar was not required to cast his vote as per parliamentary tradition in which the presiding officer casts his vote only in case of a tie.
Addressing media persons after the trust vote along with the alliance partners, Parrikar said, “The motion was passed with 22 to 16, with Speaker supporting the ruling benches. We have proved before the people of India, and as promised we have the support of 23, debunking Digvijay’s claim that they have the numbers,” he stated.
Parrikar mocked the Congress saying they didn’t have it from the beginning. “There was talk that Digvijay has stepped down as desk in-charge. This happens when you come to Goa only to enjoy and not to work. There are wild allegations being made with coloured glasses. As you saw, everyone voluntarily came and voted. Nobody was kept in a hotel or secluded place,” he said.
The Congress, on the other hand, till Wednesday night had been saying that some members of the coalition were in touch with them. “They were in touch with us even yesterday but I don’t know what happened and why they did not vote for us,” Congress Legislative Party leader Chandrakant (Babu) Kavalekar said.
On Vishwajit abstaining from voting, he said, “We don’t know what happened we have been trying to call him but could not get through. Vishwajit had even signed the party whip but we fail to understand what went wrong and why he suddenly disappeared.”
The Congress again questioned the appointment of Kuncalienker as the protem speaker. Senior leader Pratapsingh Rane stood to raise a point of order on the issue which was not allowed by the Speaker.
While traditionally the senior-most member of the House is named as the protem speaker, the Parrikar government was within its right to name Kuncalienker for the post in the absence of any such rule.
The protem speaker’s role could have become crucial only in case of a tie, but as it turned out, the Parrikar government received the majority vote without any hiccup.
Parrikar, who resigned as Defence Minister in the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet, was sworn in along with nine ministers on Tuesday. However, the Congress approached the Supreme Court against the Governor’s order to appoint Parrikar as CM. The Apex Court had ordered an immediate floor test.
