The Congress in Goa has condemned Governor Mridula Sinha’s action of not allowing it to form government in the state and demanded that she be dismissed.
In a late night statement on Monday, Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) Chief Spokesperson Sunil Kawathankar said, ‘We are strongly condemning undemocratic action of Governor of Goa Mridula Sinha ji for not allowing our single largest party to form the Government, and allowing BJP to carry on horse trading despite BJP not having sufficient numbers to form the Government.’
‘Since yesterday several times swearing in of the Government was announce first at 8.00 am then at 3.00 pm then at 7.00 pm later at 9.00 pm and 11.00 pm, even our MLAs received official intimation telephonically from Secretariat for the swearing in of Government which is still not happening,’ he said.
‘Governor is acting as an agent of BJP and this will be remembered as the darkest day in Indian democracy where there is vacuum in Government for more than 24 hours of declaration of death of Chief Minister of the state, the state is without any legitimate Government which is a very bad precedent that too despite Congress Party being single largest party and staking a claim to form the Government. We strongly condemn this deliberate murder of democracy by the Governor of Goa and demand the Hon’ble President of India to dismiss the biased Governor Smt. Mridula Sinha and invite Congress party to form the Government immediately,’ he said.
On Monday while Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national leaders were holding talks with coalition partners for arriving at consesus over the name for chief ministership, all the 14 Congress MLAs marched to Raj Bhavan and submitted a fresh letter of claim to form government saying Congress being the single largest party in the state assembly be invited.
Speaking to reporters outside the Raj Bhavan after meeting Governor Mridula Sinha and submitting her letter of claim, Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Chandrakant ‘Babu’ Kavlekar said Congress was not given an appointment by the Governor in spite of repeated requests made by the principle opposition party to invite it to form government.
“We do not have an appointment, because she is refusing to give us time. But despite that, we have arrived here to meet the Governor to stake our claim. It is our right as a single largest party in the Goa assembly,” he said.
In the letter submitted to the governor, Mr Kavlekar had said that Congress was the single largest party in the State Legislative Assembly with a strength of 14 MLAs in the House of 36 and hence it should be invited to form government.
He also said that he had been assured support by majority of the members in the House and he was confident of winning Motion of Confidence as and when directed. (UNI)
