Goa govt lives another day

PANAJI: The twists and turns in the political drama being played out in the Goa assembly would impress even the most crafty of script writers. On Monday, the Digambar Kamat-led Congress-NCP government survived a confidence motion it was expected not to. The saviour was the speaker, who restrained three rebel MLAs from voting against the government. An angry Opposition had no choice but to stage a walkout and air protests over the ‘murder of democracy’ .

When the chief minister tabled the confidence motion, the speaker, former chief minister Pratapsinh Rane, directed a rather quick voice vote and announced that “the ayes have it and the government will stay”.

Earlier, taking cognisance of the disqualification petitions filed against Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) legislators Sudin Dhavlikar and brother Pandurang Dhavlikar for withdrawing support to the Kamat government, Mr Rane issued an ad interim order against the two, restraining them from exercising their franchise.

In the 1998 case against former Goa speaker Tomazinho Cardozo, the Goa bench of the Bombay High Court had observed that the speaker was “allowed to grant ad interim relief” against disqualifying petitions. “I’ve been reading all these cases since I took over as speaker,” said a beaming Rane, adding, “I was expecting something like this to happen.”

The speaker also restrained senior Congress member Victoria Fernandes from voting — she had earlier resorted to a hunger strike over denial of a Cabinet berth to her, and later extended support to the BJP-led front.

With the three MLAs not allowed to exercise their franchise, the strength of the BJP-led Goan Democratic Alliance (GDA) stood at 18, the same as that of the Congress-NCP combine. A tie would have allowed the Speaker to cast his vote.

Having found its game plans thwarted, the Opposition stormed out of the assembly, even as the speaker announced that Mr Kamat’s government had won the voice vote. The Opposition did not ask for a division of votes, which would have indicated the exact numbers on either side.

“This is a mockery of democracy, the Speaker is acting for the Congress,” said agitated BJP leader Manohar Parrikar, who was hoping to replace Mr Kamat. Mr Parrikar and other Opposition leaders later called on Governor SC Jamir.

Mr Kamat later countered BJP’s allegations. “If the BJP had the numbers, they would have asked for division of votes. They were never in majority,” Mr Kamat claimed.

But while Mr Kamat has got a breather, the tussle for power in Goa looks far from over. The governor, a Congressman, has assured the GDA that he would take ‘appropriate’ action after receiving reports from the speaker and the independent observer about the proceedings of the day.

The BJP said it was now planning to take the matter to a ‘higher authority’ like the president.

BJP national spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy, who is in charge of Goa affairs, said the party would “seek justice” from the highest office in the country.