Congress: Goa plunged into crisis of governance

New Delhi: Even while wishing a speedy recovery to Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar ailing for the past nine months, the Congress on Saturday accused the BJP leadership of plunging the state into a constitutional breakdown and governance crisis by not opting for any alternative.

Goa Congress President Girish Chodankar and AICC spokesman Pawan Khera told a Press conference here that the people of Goa are craving for governance, administration and progress that have become a casualty because of Parrikar’s illness as they are suffering a spate of corruption for want of any proper government.

Instead of holding a Cabinet meeting in the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi on Friday, they said Parrikar should show moral righteousness and voluntarily step down from the post, they said, wondering if he would even call the mandatory Assembly session in the hospital if he cannot go back to Goa.

Asserting that Goa deserves a fulltime CM, they said the BJP has not even appointed a caretaker chief minister, nor acting CM, nor an in-charge, nor a deputy chief minister to run the government till the recovery of Parrikar as done by giving the finance portfolio at the Centre to Piyush Goyal when Arun Jaitley underwent a major surgery. They accused the BJP of being callous in not relieving Parrikar from his responsibilities to let him recover fast.

Chodankar suspected that Parrikar may be blackmailing the BJP to reveal the secrets of the Rafale fighter jet deal if he is removed. He said he has no doubts that Parrikar may be privy to many files and documents relating to the scam that he may expose if he is shunted out.

How else the BJP explain dropping of two Goa ministers, Francis D’Souza and Pandurang Madkaikar, on ground of their failing health, but not the chief minister, he asked. He said the Congress had gone to the governor, Mrs Mridula Sinha, five times and pressed that a floor test is imperative to throw out the BJP that usurped power through backdoor despite the Congress having the majority. He said the BJP has no constitutional right to continue in power in Goa even for a day.

“A special one-day session of the Goa Assembly should be immediately convened for a floor test to clear all doubts on who has the rightful claim to head a democratic government,” Chodankar said.