Bharatiya Janata Party leaders from Goa who met the party’s President Amit Shah on Wednesday said no decision has been made yet on the political situation in the state, the Hindustan Times reported.
The state has been in political turmoil in the absence of Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar and other ministers. Parrikar, who has been suffering from a pancreatic ailment since February, was admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi on Saturday. Goa’s Urban Development Minister Francis D’Souza and Power Minister Pandurang Madkaikar are also currently in hospital.
South Goa MP Narendra Sawaikar, North Goa MP Shripad Naik and Rajya Sabha MP Vinay Tendulkar, who is also the state BJP president, met Shah along with the party’s central observers in Delhi to find a solution to the stalemate. “He [Amit Shah] is seized of the matter,” said Sawaikar. “No decision has been arrived at yet.”
The Goa Congress has asked the BJP-led government to prove its majority in a floor test in the Assembly. The ruling party has 13 MLAs in the 40-seat Goa Assembly but is in alliance with the Goa Forward Party and the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party, both of which have three seats each. Three independent candidates are also allied with the BJP. The Congress, which emerged the single-largest party in the Assembly elections in 2017, has 16 legislators.
The Goa Forward Party, however, has asked the BJP to announce its chief ministerial candidate and said they would declare their decision on supporting the BJP after that, India Today reported on Wednesday.
“We supported BJP because Parrikar was the CM candidate,” said Goa Forward Party Vice-President Durgadas Kamat. “But after the current political incidents, we haven’t heard anything from BJP. Let the BJP first come up with proposal then will decide what to do. But certainly we are not contemplating to join hands with Congress.”
The Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party on Saturday called for Parrikar’s removal and said he should hand over charge to a senior minister.
Goa Cabinet is in ICU, says Shiv Sena
Meanwhile, the Shiv Sena on Wednesday claimed the BJP had insulted democracy in the country by forming the government in Goa despite lacking majority. The BJP ally accused it of being solely responsible for the current political situation in the state, PTI reported.
“It is as if the entire Goa Cabinet is in the ICU,” the party said in an editorial in the its mouthpiece Saamana. “Goa has become a leaderless state and the administration is not able to function. All this has led to political instability, which is not good for the state.”
The Sena alleged that the BJP’s allies were trying to destabilise the government as leaders of these parties were vying for the top post in the state.
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