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The governor's hands were tied: Ramakant Khalap

Sandesh Prabhudesai in Panaji

Former Union law minister Ramakant Khalap has described the Goa governor's action to dismiss the Congress government as "constitutional since no other method was left to save the situation."

Expressing regret over objections raised by senior MPs like P Shiv Shankar and Somnath Chatterjee over the installation of a coalition government led by rebel Congress leader Dr Wilfred de Souza, he said the statements were made out of ignorance.

To ensure that the then Congress chief minister, Pratapsingh Rane,, won the confidence vote, Speaker Thomazinho Cardoz passed an interim order restraining all the 10 rebel MLAs, who had split the ruling party, from entering the House, he said. However, Cardoz could not quote any provision for his action, and the Opposition in the Goa assembly had pointed out that no speaker could pass such an interim order.

"If such an illegal government was not dismissed," feels Khalap, "the speaker's unconstitutional order would have gone unchallenged, giving all speakers a licence to similarly misuse the tenth schedule of the Constitution." Cardoz had used powers not vested in him, the Maharashtawadi Gomantak Party leader contended.

Laughing at Shiv Shankar's allegation that Dr de Souza's installation was an attack on democracy, the MGP leader said, on the contrary, the speaker's action to allow Rane to win the confidence vote was "the actual attack on democracy."

In fact, Khalap felt, Rane should have resigned when more than a third of MLAs split his Congress legislature party, and he was left with 15 supporters as against 23 on the other side. There was no other method the governor could have used other than the state government's dismissal to save the situation, he said.

Meanwhile, 11 ministers were inducted in Dr de Souza's cabinet on Friday, including all members of the splinter group, besides three MGP MLAs. Two Bharatiya Janata Party MLAs are likely to be inducted after they secure the central party leadership's sanction.

Soon after the swearing-in ceremony, Dr de Souza told reporters that he would get the Central Bureau of Investigation office reopened in Goa. Rane had the office shut down soon after CBI officers began probing into suspicious activities of some of his ministers.

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