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Furore in Parliament as reins of Goa govt handed to Wilfred D'Souza

There was furore in both houses of Parliament today after Goa Governor Lt Gen (retd) J F R Jacob dismissed the Pratapsingh Rane government and appointed Wilfred D'Souza chief minister of the state.

The Opposition decried the dismissal of the Rane government in both houses of Parliament today, demanding the immediate recall of the state governor.

Raising the issue during zero hour in the Lok Sabha, deputy leader of the Congress P Shiv Shankar described the installation of the breakaway Congress leader D'Souza as the new state chief minister as ''rape of democracy''.

He accused the Centre of conniving with the governor in dismissing Rane.

It is regretful that the Bharatiya Janata Party, which had been raising its voice against the misuse of Article 356 of the Constitution and stressing not to dismiss any government unless it was defeated on the floor of the House, had proved by its action that it had ''no faith in the Constitution''.

Shankar said the governor had ''twisted'' Article 164 and ''sided with one to dismiss another. ''He (the governor) had said goodbye to the Constitution,'' he said.

Narrating what transpired at the Panaji Raj Bhavan on Tuesday and the subsequent developments yesterday, the Congress leader said Rane was given just one-and-a-half hours to prove his majority on the floor of the House and yet he managed.

Somnath Chatterjee of the Communist Party of India-Marxist said he was ''not surprised'' by what had happened in Goa yesterday. The BJP was preached many things. But in action it was doing just the opposite, expressing ''deepest sense of objection'' to the governor's action. The CPI-M leader said the governor had arrogated powers to himself.

He said the governor's action was nothing but a ''declaration of war'' against the Constitution, as he had dismissed the Rane government after the latter had won a confidence vote.

''Raj Bhavans have become places of conspiracy,'' he charged.

D'Souza, the rebel Congress leader, was immediately sworn in as the new chief minister at 2200 hours on Wednesday at a hurriedly-called simple ceremony at the Cabo Raj Bhavan.

The governor has asked him to prove the majority on the floor of the House within 21 days. He however also prorogued the monsoon assembly session one day in advance, since the finance bill was passed yesterday.

D'Souza heads a coalition ministry comprising his new outfit the Goa Rajiv Congress (10 members), the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (8), the BJP (4) and one independent MLA, John Manuel Vaz.

His council of ministers has been sworn in on Thursday morning.

Rane, who tried every available method to save his government, is now planning to challenge his dismissal in the Supreme Court.

The governor later told the media that he delayed his decision only because he was examining all possible options before taking action.

"I am convinced that Rane had gone into minority and the majority was with D'Souza," he said.

He however refused to comment on Speaker Thomazinho Cardoz's behaviour in the assembly, telling the media that they had witnessed everything that had happened in the House.

"Why do I need to comment anything more?" he asked.

While the D'Souza group has been continuously complaining that the speaker was partisan, several Congress leaders, including the central emissary R L Bhatia, said it was the governor who was partisan.

Eleven cabinet rank ministers, eight from the Congress rebel group and three from the MGP, were sworn in as ministers in the new government.

The BJP group did not join the government, stating that it would seek formal permission from its leadership first.

Among the ministers sworn in today are Dayanand Narvekar, Chandrakant Chodankar, Carmo Pegado and Subhash Shirodkar, all ministers in the Rane government, Pandurang Bhatle, Pandu Vassu Naik, Jagdish Acharya and Fatima D'Sa. They belong to the Goa Rajiv Congress.

Three prominent MGP leaders in the new cabinet are Kashinath Jhalmi, former leader of the opposition in the assembly, and Prakash Velip, both belonging to the Gavada and Velip OBC communities.

Another prominent MGP leader who also got a berth today was professor Surendra Sirsath, former assembly speaker.

After proving his majority, the newly sworn in chief minister plans to visit Delhi to try and get additional funds for the state, which has been facing hard times for the last two years.

He said that if Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir and the North Eastern states could get such funds, why couldn't Goa.

EARLIER REPORT:
Rane defeats confidence motion after scenes of violence

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