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Goa assembly appears headed for dissolution

The Goa assembly appears headed for dissolution by the end of the month with early polls on the cards, no matter whether the ruling Congress survives the confidence vote on Monday or the coalition headed by former chief minister Wilfred de Souza comes to power.

Congress Chief Minister Luizinho Faleiro, whose government was reduced to a minority after two ministers joined hands with the opposition, has officially demanded dissolution of the house to end political instability in the state.

Though Governor J F R Jacob has turned down his request and asked him to face a floor test by Monday, the Congress plans to continue demanding dissolution of the house even after it wins the confidence vote.

"It was my demand yesterday, today and I will stand by it tomorrow," said Faleiro.

There have been four governments in seven months, with the same politicians just switching sides in between. And with each government having a wafer-thin majority, horse-trading becomes easy. Whatever the outcome, the electorate isn't amused.

Sensing the people's mood, Dr de Souza also said he would press for the dissolution of the assembly by the end of the month even if the governor invites him to form a government and he wins a majority. For the present, all eyes are on Faleiro's floor test on Monday at 1700 hours.

"Advancing the budget session, I can well get the vote of account passed in this month itself and demand dissolution of the house," said Dr de Souza when asked if he would seek early polls.

With the general assembly elections hardly 10 months away, even opposition parties, including the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party which are backing Dr de Souza's claim to power, have opted for dissolution of the house.

"We will ensure that polls are held by May-end or June," said BJP spokesperson Manohar Parrikar. The budget should not delay the dissolution, he felt. But the four BJP legislators plan to finalise their strategy only after the vote of confidence on Monday.

Goa Congress unit chief Shantaram Naik made the same demand, claiming early polls were the best option. He hoped the governor would dissolve the House and impose President's rule.

Apparently both the ruling Congress and Dr de Souza's coalition want to be a caretaker cabinet till the elections rather than govern the state till scheduled elections in November.

Meanwhile, the governor has rejected Faleiro's demand that he be granted two more days to seek a confidence vote since some Congress legislators were not in Goa. And Dr de Souza sought to know how Faleiro could justify this demand when he is also demanding the dissolution of the house.

The coalition leader, representing the Goa Rajiv Congress, has already announced that his coalition plans to face the elections as one entity, though the BJP has still not responded to the idea of an alliance, preferring seat adjustments to a common team.

Meanwhile, the Congress Legislature Party has served notice to former social welfare minister minister Deu Mandrekar who resigned from the Congress-led Luizinho Faleiro government on Wednesday that he attend the CLP meeting today, failing which he would be expelled and action initiated against him.

Mandrekar, an MLA from Dhargal, who has often defected, is not available for comment. He and other MLAs are backing de Souza, who has staked his claim to form a government with 21 members in a house of 40.

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