http://oheraldo.in/node/26839?PHPSESSID=3434da08ba7e32911303df0f8c0f8e90
MGP withdraws support; Victoria quits Babush masterminds downfall - Parrikar favourite for CM; Churchill deputy BY HERALD REPORTER PANJIM, JULY 25 ? The Digambar Kamat-led coalition government was virtually reduced to a minority as in a late night development, two-member MGP and Independent MLA Anil Salgaocar withdrew support to the ministry and Santa Cruz MLA and Parliamentary Secretary Victoria Fernandes quit the Congress and one or two were to follow suit. Save Goa Front?s chief and Navelim MLA Churchill Alemao and UGDP?s lone MLA Babush Monserrate told Herald at 1.45 am that Mummy had submitted her resignation to Raj Bhavan. PWD Minister Sudin Dhavlikar and his brother Deepak Dhavlikar -- Priol MLA -- had withdrawn support to the government, Babush who masterminded the dethroning of Digambar Kamat ministry, said. Babush said another MLA was likely to also quit the coalition. He said they had the majority of 21 in the 40-member House. These include BJP 14, MGP 2, SGF 2, UGDP 1, Independent 1. On the other hand, the strength of the Congress-led coalition will stand at: NCP 3, Congress 14. According to information available, Opposition Leader Manohar Parrikar is their choice for chief ministership while Churchill Alemao will be his deputy. Sources said that along with the MGP, Independent MLA from Sanvordem Anil Salgaocar, a mine owner, has extended his full backing to Parrikar. That the government was on the brink of collapse came to be known only at 1.40 am. A press conference was scheduled later to announce the day?s development. Though Shyam Satardekar had spoiled the party of the Babush-Parrikar camp yesterday, the leaders worked overnight and through the day to garner support for an alternative government. Victoria told the press that she decided to quit the Congress as the party had humiliated her by denying her a ministerial berth. Sudin Dhavlikar said he was unhappy with the way the government was functioning. "We wanted to give good governance but it was not happening." Earlier in the day, Chief Minister Digambar Kamat talking informally to a group of media persons outside the Assembly said his government was contemplating an inquiry into the offers made to Congress MLAs for destabilising the government. Asked what action he would take, Kamat said he would discuss the matter with the Home Minister. ?We?ll have to investigate from where huge sums of money came?, he said referring to disclosures made by Congress MLAs about the offers they received for quitting the membership of the party and dethroning the government. Some MLAs have reportedly claimed they were offered huge sums of money going into more than Rs 20 crores each. A coup planned yesterday failed when one of the Congress MLAs who was allegedly wooed by the Opposition returned to the Congress camp late evening. Kamat said some frustrated people were worried that Congress would provide good governance. He said he has initiated some decisions and others are in the pipeline for betterment of the common man.
From the time he has initiated steps, for the first time
perhaps, everyone is talking about aam admi; the aam admi has become the focus of Goan politics and this was evident even in the Assembly, the chief minister said. Government, he said, has not yet started functioning fully. This he indicated will happen after the Assembly session. To a question, he said BJP always claims of morality in politics but they are hobnobbing with the people they were condemning (recently). He, however, declined to go into the intricacies of the hobnobbing. Opposition Leader Manohar Parrikar who had before the Assembly elections said that BJP would have no truck with Taleigao MLA Babush Monserrate yesterday was reportedly having parleys with the lone UGDP legislator. At a hotel owned by the former Town & Country Planning Minister, several of the BJP members were closeted in a meeting on Tuesday with rumours flying high that the Opposition was planning for an alternative government with Save Goa Front and others. Meanwhile, the Congress had initiated the process of filing a petition seeking the disqualification of Santa Cruz MLA Victoria Fernandes for remaining absent in the Assembly yesterday at the time of passing of financial business and defying the party whip. ENDS See also: Navhind Times MLAs refusal to bite bait averted fall of govt http://www.navhindtimes.com/articles.php?Story_ID=072621
