Goa Assembly congratulates Centre over A 370, Cong opposes

The Goa Legislative Assembly on Tuesday congratulated the Union government for revoking some provisions of Article 370 and reorganizing Jammu and Kashmir, while the opposition Congress staged a walk-out.

Only one Congress MLA, Pratapsingh Rane, supported the resolution, tabled by BJP MLA Dayanand Sopte.

Leader of Opposition Digambar Kamat opposed it, saying the Union government did not take the Assembly of Jammu and Kashmir in confidence before withdrawing the special status of the Himalayan state.

He and other Congress legislators then walked out.

Declaring the resolution as passed, Speaker Rajesh Patnekar said the decision by the BJP-led Union government had given rise to hope that Balochistan (a restive province of Pakistan) will be independent soon and (Pakistani) Punjab and Sindh will be annexed to India.

Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said he had seen first hand as a BJP Yuva Morcha worker how party leaders were arrested for merely carrying the tri-colour in Kashmir during its 'Tiranga Lehrao' (fly the tri-colour) program in 2014.

"India got independence in 1947, but it took 14 years for the then Congress government to liberate Goa (from Portuguese rule). Congress has to answer this question (why it took so long)," he said.

Former chief minister and Congress leader Pratapsingh Rane backed the motion for "unity and integrity of the country".

"This is what we stand for. We take oathfor unity and sovereignty. Therefore I support this resolution," he said.

Other Congress MLAs including Luizinho Faleiro opposed the motion.