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Sandesh Prabhudesai in Panaji
Surprised by the sudden decision of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party to get the Goa assembly dissolved, three parties have planned to challenge the Goa governor's decision in the court.
Chief minister Manohar Parrikar, however, has welcomed the opposition move, claiming that it will put all wrong interpretations to rest.
He fully justified his decision to recommend dissolution, stating that the governor has legally no other option than to implement it.
"The decision is highly unconstitutional and has no legal basis," Dr Wilfred de Souza, the state president of the Nationalist Congress Party, who is also a minister in the Parrikar government, said.
In a sudden move, Parrikar on Wednesday morning rushed to the Raj Bhavan with a resolution adopted by the Cabinet, recommending dissolution of the 32-month-old assembly, in order to seek fresh mandate.
Luizinho Faleiro, the former state opposition leader, has, however, alleged that no formal consent of the Cabinet was sought by the chief minister, while Governor Mohammed Fazal issued order of dissolution without verifying the facts.
However, no Cabinet minister has come forward to support Faleiro's allegation till now. Parrikar, on the other hand, has claimed that the resolution was unanimous and signed by all the 13 members, while one was out of station.
The BJP, which got ten of its members elected to the assembly in June 1999, ultimately came to power in October 2000 by engineering defections within the Congress, which was actually elected to power in the assembly polls.
At the time of dissolution, besides 21 of the BJP in the 40-member House, the Congress had 15 members, two of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party, one Nationalist Congress Party and two independents.
One of the MGP men is also minister in the BJP government.
"I do not bother if the MGP joins hands with the opposition against me as long as the MGP minister is with us," Parrikar said.
The BJP general secretary Govind Parvatkar has, however, clarified that they will not join hands with the MGP to fight elections.
Besides challenging the decision to dissolve the House on legal grounds, de Souza has also held the governor guilty of sheltering the errant chief minister who, according to him, had no guts to face the budget session, which was to begin from March 13.
Congress leader Faleiro has also blamed the governor for playing in the hands of the BJP by allowing Parrikar to continue in power along with the whole Cabinet. He has demanded imposition of President's rule in Goa.
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