Panaji: President Ram Nath Kovind was urged by the Goa Congress to ensure that the state’s Assembly is not dissolved by any kind of “foul play”.
In a petition, Goa Pradesh Congress Committee chief Girish Chodankar briefed President Kovind about their earlier pleas to Governor Mridula Sinha about staking claim to form government in the state and said that it is imperative that the President issues instructions and guides the governor, so that there is no attempt made in an unconstitutional way to seek dissolution of the state’s assembly.
The Congress party is the largest party in the state of Goa Assembly of 40-members and has got 16 MLAs out of it, while the Manohar Parrikar government has got the support of 23 MLAs.
The Goa Congress accused the BJP of acting “power hungry” in the Goa state and had on Saturday demanded that Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar step down and the party be permitted to prove majority by convening special session of the Assembly.
Mr. Parrikar, 62 has been hospitalized due an ailment since mid-February and has been undergoing treatment at different hospitals including from the state of Goa, Delhi, Mumbai and the US. He was back in Goa on Sunday through a special flight from Delhi, where he was lodged in the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) for a pancreatic ailment treatment.
“We had petitioned the governor that we are staking claim to form the government and there should be no decision to dissolve the House without exploring the option of inviting our party to form the government,” Mr Chodankar said in the petition.
“For this reason, it is imperative that you (President Kovind) issue instructions and guide the governor, so that there is no constitutional over-reach to seek a dissolution by foul play, contrary to wishes of the majority,” he said.
Last month, the Congress had submitted a memorandum of understanding to the governor of the state and urged her not to go with the decision to dissolve the Assembly and instead invite the strong party to form an alternative government.
Mr. Chodankar alleged that the reason behind making the plea is that in the past that the then chief minister Parrikar had dissolved the House allegedly through a “forged” resolution of Council of Ministers.
As there were a series of defections in the state, Mr. Parrikar had in 2002 dissolved the House prematurely.
At that time, the then governor Mohammed Fazal had accepted the recommendation of the state Cabinet to dissolve the House.
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