Babush quits BJP cabinet
28 January 2005 23:00 IST Babush Monserette, who was stripped off by Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar yesterday, quit the cabinet today morning.
In a sudden political move, he was stripped off the lucrative portfolio of town and country planning, which deals with land conversions and real estate matters.
“Right now I am with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. But politics has no permanent friends or enemies”, he told the reporters today morning. He was reacting to the question whether he would also quit the party.
Babush has reportedly been planning for over a month now to topple the Parrikar government by quitting the party along with few of his party colleagues and contest elections afresh.
In the bargain, the opposition Congress had reportedly offered him to make the chief minister. However, the plan got postponed, as the Congress high command remained busy with to the tsunami tragedy.
After getting elected as the MLA of the United Goans Democratic Party three years ago, Monserette had subsequently joined the ruling BJP, little before the anti-defection act was amended.
The act now compels the MLA to resign and contest afresh if he desires to join other party.
Even Micky Pacheco, who joined the ruling BJP yesterday, merged his whole one-member party into the saffron brigade.
