Congress demands floor test in Goa

Congress MLAs in Goa on Tuesday met Governor Mridula Sinha and demanded that the Manohar Parrikar-led BJP government should go through floor test to prove its majority in Assembly. They also asked the Governor to allow them to stake claim to form an alternate government.

Congress supporters in Goa. Photo: PTI (File)

PANAJI: Congress MLAs in Goa on Tuesday met Governor Mridula Sinha and demanded that the Manohar Parrikar-led BJP government should go through floor test to prove its majority in Assembly. They also asked the Governor to allow them to stake claim to form an alternate government. Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, who is suffering from a pancreatic ailment, is admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi even as the BJP high command is trying to find an alternative in Parrikar's absence. The Congress on Wednesday submitted a memorandum to the Governor in her absence, urging her not to dissolve the Assembly and instead invite the party to form the alternate government. All the 16 Congress MLAs, led by their leader Chandrakant Kavlekar, had submitted the memorandum to Governor office. The Congress is the single largest party in the 40-member Goa Assembly with 16 MLAs, while the BJP with 14 MLAs is supported by three members each of Goa Forward and the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party, the lone Nationalist Congress Party legislator and three Independents. What queers the pitch in the numbers game, however, is the health condition of three BJP MLAs -- Parrikar and Urban Development Minister Francis D'Souza getting treatment for ailments and Power Minister Pandurang Madkaikar who is bed-ridden after suffering a brainstroke some months back. Earlier too, the Congress had staked claim on May 18, 2018 to form the government in Goa, citing the example of Karnataka where the largest party BJP was invited to form the government after the Assembly polls threw up a fractured verdict. The Congress had said that it had not been invited to form the government in Goa after the Assembly polls in March last year despite it emerging as the largest single party. The party had also met Governor on September 7, 2018 urging her to intervene as State Administration was suffering due to sickness of the Chief Minister. (With inputs from agencies)