President's Rule imminent?
Sandesh
Prabhudesai
30 July 2007
Imposition of President's
Rule and keeping the Assembly under suspended animation appears imminent with
a replica of 2005 being enacted in Goa once again.
Governor S C Jamir, who
had recommended the PR then, still sits at the Raj Bhavan and cannot escape applying
the same grounds once again, though it is the Congress government that is presently
ruling the state.
In 2005, Jamir had however dismissed the BJP-led Manohar
Parrikar government, before imposing the central rule one month later.
The
40-member House, in March 2005, had finally reduced to 34, with 18 members on
both the sides - the then ruling BJP and opposition Congress.
The Goa Assembly
has today once again reduced to 37, with 18 members on both the sides, excluding
speaker Pratapsing Rane.
In order to win the trust vote, the Congress today
managed to get two members of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party being restrained
from voting, by filing disqualification petitions against them.
The two
MGP legislator brothers - Sudin and Dipak Dhavalikar - withdrew their support
to the 50-day old Digambar Kamat government on 25 July.
Victoria Fernandes,
another Congress member who resigned from the party at the same time, was also
restrained from voting today. She however did not attend today's session.
Speaker
Rane issued these orders based on the disqualification petitions filed by the
Congressmen against the three.
The Kamat government reduced to minority
of 18 due to the action of these three legislators.
The two-member MGP
has supported the BJP-led alliance, consisting of 14 BJP, two of the Churchill
Alemao-led Save Goa Front, Babush Monseratte of the United Goans Democratic Party
and independent Anil Salgaoncar.
Similar political drama, in 2005, had begun
on 29 January, with four BJP legislators quitting the party and reducing Parrikar
government to minority of 18.
MGP's Dhavalikar had then shifted his support
from the BJP to the Congress, besides an independent Philip Neri Rodrigues.
With
these resignations, the House had reduced to 36, with 18 members on both the sides.
Governor
Jamir had then dismissed the Parrikar government on 2 February, claiming that
the speaker (belonging to the BJP) had failed to take up the trust vote. Rodrigues
was lifted out of the House amidst pandemonium.
The governor had then inducted
Pratapsing Rane government at midnight and was told to prove his majority on 28th
February.
Meanwhile, Kamat - the chief minister today - had also split
from the BJP to join hands with the Congress on 23rd February, thereby reducing
the BJP to mere 17. In retaliation, the speaker had disqualified Rodrigues, also
pushing the Congress-led alliance to 17.
Instead of going for the trust
vote, the speaker and the deputy speaker had both resigned, creating constitutional
crisis.
The central government had then imposed President's Rule by keeping
the Assembly under suspended animation.
The Congress today has been pushed
into similar situation, though it enjoys 19 against 18 of the BJP-led alliance.
However, it will have to run the government by forcing the speaker every time
to cast his vote in favour of the ruling party.
The centre would be thus
left with no other option than imposing the President's Rule in such a situation,
while keeping the Assembly under suspended animation.
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