The political crisis in Goa reached the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Saturday with the Bharatiya Janata Party parading 20 of its supporting legislators before President Pratibha Patil in what is seen as her first brush with the rough and tumble of politics after taking over the high office.
Led by BJP chief Rajnath Singh, the 20 MLAs, including Pandurang and Ramkrishna Dhavalikar of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party and Churchill Alemao of the Save Goa Front trooped before Pratibha with the demand to ensure a sitting of the state Assembly on Monday.
"The Goa government has been reduced to minority and has deliberately skipped the sitting of the Assembly on Friday," Leader of the Opposition in Goa Assembly Manohar Parrikar told reporters after meeting Pratibha.
"The Goa Assembly must sit on Monday without fail," Singh said in a memorandum submitted to the President.
"The President told the MLAs that Goa Governor (S C Jamir) will uphold the Constitution," a Rashtrapati Bhavan spokesman said.