Congress asks Goa Governor to let it form government

Congress leaders met Goa Governor Mridula Sinha, urging her to follow the precedent set in Karnataka and invite the Congress in Goa to form a government as it was the single largest party with 16 MLAs in the Assembly.

Emerging from the Raj Bhavan, Leader of Opposition Chandrakant Kavlekar told reporters that a representation had been submitted to the Governor, requesting her to "right the past wrong" of inviting the BJP to form the government in Goa in March 2017 and now invite the 16-member Congress legislative party to form the government instead.

"We have asked her to do what the Karnataka Governor has done and invite the Congress as the single largest party to form the government in Goa. This current government has to be dismissed," Kavlekar told reporters.

Kavlekar said that the Congress in Goa was capable of forming a government and prove its majority in the 40-member Assembly if it was invited to do so by Sinha.

"She has told us that she will respond to our letter in two days," Kavlekar said.

The BJP won 13 seats in the 2017 election compared to the 17 won by the Congress, which emerged as the single largest party.

But after swift political maneuvering, the BJP staked claimed to power with two regional parties and independent MLAs and formed a coalition government after getting a swift nod from Governor Mridula Sinha.

A Congress legislator, Vishwajit Rane, subsequently quit the party and joined the BJP -- eventually to become a cabinet minister -- taking the saffron party's strength to 14 in the Assembly.

Currently, the Bharatiya Janata Party and its coalition allies have a strength of 23 legislators, with 14 from the BJP, three each from Goa Forward and Maharashtrwadi Gomantak Party and three independent MLAs.

--IANS

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