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Faleiro asked to prove majority by Wednesday

Sandesh Prabhudesai in Panaji

Goa Chief Minister Luizinho Faleiro has been asked to prove his majority on the floor of the state assembly by Wednesday following a split in the ruling Congress party.

Faleiro met Governor Lieutenant General J F R Jacob late last night at the Cabo Raj Bhavan along with a few cabinet colleagues and legislators. His close confidants like Industry Minister Churchill Alemao are away in London.

Eleven legislators including five ministers had split the Congress under the leadership of Health Minister Francisco Sardinha.

The 10-member Bharatiya Janata Party is planning to participate in the proposed coalition government. Sardinha claims that the one-member Nationalist Congress Party as well two-member Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party would support him.

NCP leader Wilfred de Souza had been seen rushing to the Raj Bhavan along with Sardinha, when he met Lieutenant General Jacob who has been transferred as Punjab governor.

The proposed coalition government -- to be called the Goa Democratic Alliance - may enjoy the support of the sole independent legislator. Thus it may have a strength of 25 in a 40-member house.

Four ministers -- Sardinha, Somnath Juwarkar, Dayanand Narvekar and Subhash Shirodkar - resigned yesterday. Deputy Speaker Alex Sequeira also resigned to join the splinter group.

The group also consists of two former ministers and three legislators who were elected on a Congress ticket. Francisco D'Souza, who had split from the NCP a fortnight ago to strengthen Faleiro's hands, also joined hands with the dissidents.

"It just happened in a single day with all the dissatisfied colleagues coming together and requesting me take this step," claims Sardinha, who is a known rival of Faleiro.

State opposition leader Manohar Parrikar, who is still reluctant to join the cabinet, told the media after meeting the governor last night that the BJP has decided to support the proposed coalition government as the people of Goa were fed up with Faleiro's authoritarian rule.

Contrary to the claims made by all the leaders, moves were on to dislodge the government from the day Faleiro was sworn in on June 9 this year. However, it was countered by engineering defections from the opposition. In all, five legislators had been roped in.

Going against the assurance given in the election manifesto, Faleiro expanded his ministry two months ago. In fact, the splinter group includes two ministers who were roped into the Faleiro camp during the expansion.

This is the eighth ministry to fall in the last nine years in Goa.

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