Digvijaya stopped us from staking claim to form government: Goa Congress chief

PANAJI: Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) chief Luizinho Faleiro on Friday obliquely blamed AICC general secretary Digvijaya Singh and Goa screening committee chief KC Venugopal for the party's inability to form a government in the state despite winning far more seats than BJP.

Refuting reports that a tussle within Goa Congress leaders for the post of CM led to a delay in government formation, Faleiro asserted that Congress had the support of 21 MLAs needed to form the government. He said it was Digvijaya Singh who suggested that Congress should wait till Goa governor Mridula Sinha invited it to form the government. "As per procedure, I had a letter drafted for the governor to inform her that we would be staking claim to form the government, but I was told by Singh that as per convention, the governor would call us. So we waited," Faleiro said.

He said that on the night of March 11, when poll results were declared, independent MLA from Porvorim, Rohan Khaunte, and NCP MLA from Benaulim, Churchill Alemao, had extended support to Congress along with two independent MLAs. "We had 21 MLAs with us on March 11th night, but we didn't have their signatures. Venugopal and Singh were empowered to discuss and take decisions. I would not like to cast blame but yes, I feel we should have taken a decision that night," Faleiro said.

He indicated that Singh, along with the other leaders, was reluctant to stake claim to form the government until GFP also came on board. Sources said on March 11, Singh, Venugopal and Chellakumar met GFP's Vijai Sardessai at Dona Paula to convince him to join the Congress coalition. "It was decided by our general secretary and by our leaders in Delhi that we should not go ahead without GFP," Faleiro said, adding, "I am not pointing fingers at anybody, but all I can say is that when I was in charge of the north-eastern states, I used to take decisions on the spot."

Faleiro said GFP was never in favour of an alliance with Congress because it had a pre-poll alliance with BJP, which ultimately caused a breakdown in post-election coalition negotiations.