Sardinha wins trust vote, amidst...
GOANEWS DESK, PANAJI | 30 November 1999 16:43 ISTChief minister Francisco Sardinha, who had split from the Congress and formed a coalition government with the Bharatiya Janata Party a week ago, won the confidence vote today evening by 25 against 14 votes.
Besides 11 legislators belonging to his breakaway faction and 10 of the BJP, he was also supported by two-member Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party, sole member of the Nationalist Congress Party and the sole independent in the 40-member House.
All the remaining 14 Congress MLAs opposed the motion when speaker Pratapsing Rane put the motion to vote after three and a half hour debate.
"After remaining loyal to the Congress for the last 19 years even when defections had become order of the day, I decided to split from the party to save Goa from disaster due to authoritarian rule of former Congress chief minister Luizinho Faleiro", said Sardinha while replying to the debate.
He also claimed that the toppling plan was made by the Congress rebels and the BJP had participated in the government at his request, in order to create trust among the masses that the coalition government would complete its term.
While several Congressmen accused the BJP for supporting the coalition government by going against the principles of public morality, BJP leader Manohar Parrikar asserted that the continuing instability in Goa could be over only when the government works for all the MLAs, without giving any opportunity for rebellion.
"The origin of defection culture lies in the money the candidates pay to buy tickets and then on the election expenses. There is no end to this unless this culture is uprooted from Goan society", felt Parrikar.
Surprisingly, newly elected opposition leader Ravi Naik did not criticise the new formation the way his colleagues did. More than the breakaway group, the BJP was made the prime target by the opposition while requesting all the 11 ministers to come back since their demand of leadership change has been met.
Most of the members of the breakaway group openly admitted on the floor of the House that they split because outsiders like Suresh Parulekar and Prakash Velip were made the ministers by Faleiro and not them.
"How long could we face such a humiliation", asked Victoria Fernandes, a minister now in the Sardinha cabinet. Deputy chief minister Dayanand Narvekar even went to the extent of stating that frequent defections take place in Goa since most of the MLAs are educated and aware of their democratic rights.
Prior to the recent split which toppled the Congress government in five months, Faleiro had engineered split in three parties with five legislators while offering cabinet berths to two of them, in order to save his government from the brewing rebellion.
While the prime attack of the opposition Congress remained on the BJP, the breakaway group - presently in the government – held Faleiro responsible for the toppling game, giving an impression that the real government and the opposition had nothing against each other.
"The stability of my government would ultimately depend upon how efficiently we govern the state", admitted chief minister Sardinha during the debate. The opposition however felt confident that the coalition would not last for long.
