Faleiro for dissolution, but on condition
GOANEWS DESK, PANAJI | 30 November 1998 12:07 ISTGoa Chief minister Luizinho Faleiro has said he is prepared to recommend dissolution of the House in three months if he did not live up to people's expectations. He won the trust vote today morning by 20 against 19 while expanded his cabinet in the evening.
Four new legislators, including two independents - John Manuel Vaz and Victoria Fernandes, Congressman Joaquim Alemao and 75-year old Deu Mandrekar, who resigned as the deputy speaker earlier, were inducted in the 14-member cabinet.
Others include, besides deputy chief minister Dayanand Narvekar, Subhash Shirodkar and Pandu Vasu Naik, who had split along with Mandrekar, ending Dr Wilfred de Souza's coalition. rule. Other Congress members inducted are Somnath Zuwarkar, Dominic Fernandes, Sanjay Bandekar, Sangeeta Parab and Wilfred Mesquita, all former ministers.
The only person who was dropped is former power minister Mauvin Godinho, as a criminal case is pending against him in the power rebate scandal. Faleiro later on claimed that the party high command had cleared his name, but Godinho himself opted out.
Faleiro has been struggling hard to satisfy all his cabinet colleagues since there are fights over few lucrative portfolios among all, due to which the chief minister had announced that he would head the government without any portfolio.
But high command observer Govindrao Adik, soon after the swearing in ceremony at the Cabo Raj Bhavan in the evening, said he was informed "just now" by the high command that Faleiro must retain home, finance and the general administration. One of these portfolios was demanded by his deputy Narvekar, who had split from de Souza government over non-allocation of portfolios.
Earlier during the debate in the House over trust vote, Dr de Souza as well as members of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party and the BJP, strongly demanded dissolution of the House, paving way for early polls.
Though Faleiro has now assured to recommend dissolution in three months in case of non-performance, it carries no weight since he himself plans to judge his own performance and decide accordingly. "People are free to comment about it", he quips.
