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Congress to abstain on trust motion in Goa

Sandesh Prabhudesai in Panjim

Chief Minister Francisco Sardinha is almost certain now to lose the trust vote on Tuesday as the Congress has decided to abstain from voting, though the former ruling party is opposed to the Bharatiya Janata Party forming the government.

Governor Mohammed Fazal has convened a special session of the state assembly on Tuesday afternoon, giving Sardinha a chance to prove his majority after the BJP formally withdrew from the 11-month-old ruling coalition on Sunday.

"Though we cannot support the BJP, we also cannot support the person who toppled our government," said Goa Pradesh Congress Committee president Luizinho Faleiro after a meeting of the Congress Legislature Party on Monday evening.

Sardinha had toppled Faleiro's government in November last year by breaking away from the Congress along with 10 others to form the Goa People's Congress.

Meanwhile, BJP legislator Manohar Parrikar, who has staked his claim to form a BJP-led government in the state, announced that the new Cabinet would be sworn in late on Tuesday.

Without mentioning the Congress, he also told journalists that five MLAs would abstain in the assembly on the motion of confidence in the Sardinha government.

Support from the five-member Congress has become crucial for Sardinha if he has to have any chance of winning the vote in the 40-member House. He himself is left with just 11 legislators of his own party and Dr Wilfred de Souza, the sole legislator of the Nationalist Congress Party.

The BJP on the other hand has the support of its 10 original legislators, two splinter groups of four Congressmen each who joined the party on Saturday, and three other legislators belonging to two other parties. Isidore Fernandes, the sole independent MLA in the House, has also decided to support any group that forms the government.

But Sardinha insisted on Monday evening, "I can still garner the support of 20, which is enough to win the trust vote." The chief minister is also firm on facing the assembly and having a debate rather than stepping down. "Let people know how the BJP ditched me," he said.

Apart from the BJP, the other gainer from this episode may be Dr de Souza. "If the Congress abstains, I will welcome the whole Sardinha group into the NCP," he said. The NCP will then emerge as the main opposition party in the state.

Throughout the day, the eleven-member Sardinha camp was desperately trying all possible means to lure back the four defectors. Three of them even visited the chief minister's official residence, but were back in the BJP camp by evening.

"They have been staying here willingly," said Parrikar, denying charges that he had kept all 21 MLAs in "captivity" in a city hotel guarded by police. No one is allowed to meet any of the legislators except in the crowded gallery.

While strategies and counter-strategies were being planned to win over the four MLAs needed by both camps, desperation appeared to be mounting in the Sardinha camp. In fact, the BJP appeared confident that Sardinha would resign just before the special session begins at 1430 IST and drive to Raj Bhavan to submit his resignation rather than face the humiliation of being voted out of office.

With the BJP gearing up for the swearing in, Union Information Technology Minister Pramod Mahajan is planning to fly down to Panjim on Tuesday to work out the modalities of Cabinet formation. The BJP government is also expected to be a jumbo one, with at least 14 ministers.

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