Goa political crisis: BJP seeks trial of strength

As the Congress-led government in Goa plunged into minority, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday demanded convening of a special session of the Assembly, for a trial of strength to call the bluff of the ruling alliance.

The party, which has air-dashed senior leader Rajiv Pratap Rudy to Goa to assess the situation there, is angry at the way the Assembly was prorogued.

"We demand convening of a special session for a trial of strength. If the Digambar Kamat government, which is in a minority, fails to prove its majority, it should be dismissed," party spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said.

Prasad said the decision to prorogue the Assembly was taken in haste to save the state government from collapsing. "It is constitutional deceit," he added.

Before leaving for Goa, Rudy told PTI that the BJP was not at all interested in forming the government in the state as it wants the "Congress to stand fully exposed for its misdeeds".

He demanded Kamat's resignation, saying his government was in minority, in the wake of alliance partner Nationalist Congress Party's withdrawal of support to it.

Rudy blamed the United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre, and the Congress in particular, for the political crisis in Goa. "The Digambar Kamat government in Goa has been in minority ever since its inception seven months ago. It has been ruling on the basis of an arrangement among the Governor, the Speaker and the Chief Minister," he said.

He alleged,"The shaky political alliance which had been foisted on a very weak foundation of political deceit was never destined to last".

Meanwhile, Leader of Opposition and BJP leader Manohar Parrikar said in Panaji that the Nationalist Congress Party group should be allowed to form the government but was silent on whether the saffron party would extend its support.