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Congress splits in Goa

Sandesh Prabhudesai in Panjim

The Congress party split in Goa on Tuesday, with five legislators forming another group to support the coalition government led by Francisco Sardinha.

The group, led by Mormugao legislator Shaikh Hassan Haroon, includes Suresh Parulekar (Calangute), Prakash Velip (Quepem), Jose Philip D'Souza (Vasco) and Philip Neri Rodrigues (Velim).

The group, called Indian National Congress (Shaikh group) has submitted a letter to Speaker Pratapsing Rane.

Parulekar told rediff.com that they will unconditionally support the coalition government.

Churchill Alemao, senior vice-president of the Goa PCC and a legislator, confirmed that the split followed a dispute between Goa PCC chief Luizinho Faleiro and CLP leader Ravi Naik at Monday's CLP meet and both of them were not taking partymen into confidence.

Faleiro refused to comment on the split, while Sardinha, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Manohar Parrikar and Rane were not available for comments.

Sources close to the Sardinha group claimed that the plan was to drop ministers Mauvin Godinho and Aleixo Sequeira, while accommodating Shaikh and Parulekar in the cabinet. While Mauvin's resignation was demanded by the BJP last week, Sequeira may face the axe due to his continuous hobnobbing with the Congress for a homecoming.

Though Parulekar still claims that the support is unconditional, sources said that the remaining defectors will head government-owned corporations. This may compel Sardinha to unseat some corporation heads, inviting their wrath.

Besides Sardinha's 11 members of the Goa People's Congress, the 10-member BJP is part of the coalition government, while two Maharashtrwadi Gomantak Party men, Nationalist Congress Party legislator Dr Wilfred de Souza and independent legislator Isidore Fernandes support the government.

The new development will obviously strengthen Sardinha, who will now have 16 Congressmen on his side, leaving nine in the Opposition camp ('real' Congress). It will also help marginalize the BJP.

To counter the move, some Congress legislators are trying to split the party further, to join hands with the BJP, to form a BJP-led coalition government, provided Sardinha's GPP also splits and supports it.

While keeping the 'defection tradition' high, the legislators did not bother to maintain the sanctity of Independence Day.

At least three of them had defected soon after the June elections last year to join the then ruling Congress - Parulekar and Philip from the UGDP and Velip from the MGP.

Neri Rodrigues and Shaikh have defected for the first time in their political careers. Shaikh, the group leader of the splinter group, was even a minister for two terms in Congress governments and a speaker once.

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