PANJIM: Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, who still hasn’t resigned as Rajya Sabha member, attended the sitting of the Upper House during Zero Hour.
In the Rajya Sabha, Parrikar thanked Congress leader Digvijay Singh for failing to cobble up a majority in the State despite the party winning the largest number of seats. Parrikar also thanked the chairman, deputy chairman and other members.
“I express my thanks to the chairman, deputy chairman and members of this House for their support during my tenure as Raksha Mantri (Defence Minister), and invite them to Goa whenever they want to come,” Parrikar said.
“My special thanks to honourable member Digvijay Singh, who happened to be in Goa but did nothing so that I could form the government,” he said.
Digvijay Singh has given notice for a substantive motion to discuss in the House the conduct of Goa Governor Mridula Sinha, which is now pending for two weeks.
Outside the House, Parrikar said there was no question of immorality in the way the BJP formed the government in Goa.
“Other parties supported us as they didn’t trust the Congress… It’s a coalition government and there is no question of morality or immorality in it,” Parrikar said.
Parrikar ruled out the possibility of coalition partners switching loyalties. “Not as long as I am there,” he said.
Asked why he gave special thanks to Digvijay Singh, Parrikar replied, “I thanked him for his incompetence. I thanked Digvijaya for letting us form the government. It is because of his incompetence that we formed the government here. He kept roaming around and we formed the government in 48 hours. His own MLAs did not have faith in him while we built consensus with the regional parties,” Parrikar told the Rajya Sabha.
The Congress won 17 seats in the February 4 state assembly elections and emerged as the single largest party, while the BJP won only 13 seats. The BJP, however, managed to form a coalition government with support from Independent legislators and regional parties.
