Sardinha to be up, Faleiro down the drains ?

Sandesh Prabhudesai
29 November 1999 

It would be a cakewalk for chief minister Francisco Sardinha to win the confidence vote tomorrow in the House, after holding reins of the new coalition government on last Wednesday.

Former chief minister Luizinho Faleiro however is in a real soup as most of the Congress legislators have demanded that he be replaced by Ravi Naik as the CLP leader.

Though Sardinha has a wafer-thin majority of 21 in the coalition government to win the trust vote tomorrow in the 40-member House, he is also supported by at least five legislators belonging to two parties and an independent.

The new government is a coalition of 11-member breakaway group of the formerly ruling Congress party and 10 members of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Besides all 11 of the Sardinha faction, three BJP legislators have joined the jumbo cabinet of 14 here.

The government however has also been supported by two-member Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party, Dr Wilfred de Souza as the sole legislator of the Nationalist Congress Party and the independent MLA. This takes his strength to 25.

Movement has however already begun to pull down Faleiro also from the legislator party leadership, though he may continue as the Goa PCC chief. During his tenure, he was holding both the posts of the chief minister and the organisational leader.

Mabel Rebello, an emissary sent by party president Sonia Gandhi last week after downfall of the Congress government, has already submitted her report in Delhi. Most of the 14 Congress legislators ( minus speaker Pratapsing Rane) have favoured Naik as the new leader.

It is also learnt that Mrs Gandhi is quite upset with Faleiro as well as both the observers she had sent earlier – Ramesh Chennithala and Govindrao Adik – based on whose misinformation she made a statement that Faleiro would win the trust vote. On the contrary, Faleiro resigned the next day before the Assembly session could begin.

Perhaps to complete the formalities today itself, two former chief ministers – Motilal Vora and M S Farooq – are coming down to hold the CLP meeting today afternoon. Most of the Congress legislators feel confident that Naik would face the House tomorrow as the new state opposition leader.

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