Speaker to meet NCP MLAs today

Speaker to meet NCP MLAs today
HERALD REPORTER
PANJIM, JAN 23
Goa legislative Assembly Speaker Pratapsingh Rane will give a hearing to all three Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) legislators on Monday to decide on the whip and the chief of legislative wing issue.
The Speaker issued summons to three NCP MLAs to appear before him on January 24, in the response to a letter from NCP High Command informing him about Benaulim legislator Mickky Pacheco being appointed as whip of the party along with the legislative wing president.
Sources stated that Rane is likely to seek consensus between all the three legislators Jose Philip D’Souza, Nilkant Halarnkar and Pacheco before finalising Pacheco as a party whip.
The Speaker is expected to give his verdict on January 25 after hearing all three legislators. The Speaker’s verdict assumes importance as it will determine political recourse for both parties involved.
It  will also be interesting to watch the next  move of the NCP High Command in the event Speaker’s verdict is adverse to their intend.
On the other hand the Congress-led Government has not made secrets about its disapproval to induct Pacheco in the Cabinet despite Pawar asking to do so. The NCP has been on a war path ever since Congress-led Government stalled the move of the Benaulim MLA to get himself re-inducted in the Cabinet.
Pacheco’s induction in the Cabinet was stalled after a group of 10 Congress legislators voiced their protest. Also, both the NCP ministers refused to resign even as NCP High Command asked its two ministers to step down.
If Rane refuses to accept Pacheco as a whip, it would further widen the divide between both the coalition partners.