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Thursday, Feb 03, 2005

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Front Page

Goa Government dismissed

By Anil Sastry

— Photo: Rajtilak Naik

The scene in the Goa Assembly in Panaji when Filipe Neri Rodrigues, an Independent, was ordered removed from the House during the trust vote on Wednesday.

PANAJI, FEB. 2. The Goa Governor, S.C. Jamir, this evening dismissed the 32-month-old Manohar Parrikar-led Bharatiya Janata Party coalition government, even as the Government won a vote of confidence, albeit controversial, on the floor of the House.

The session was adjourned abruptly by the Speaker, Vishwas Satarkar. at 5.40 p.m. after the vote. Mr. Parrikar said he received the order dismissing him at 6.10 p.m. The one line order read: "In exercise of powers vested under Article 164(1) and other enabling provisions of the Constitution of India, I, S.C. Jamir, Governor of the State of Goa, do hereby withdraw my pleasure and accordingly dismiss Shri. Manohar Parrikar as Chief Minister of the State of Goa."

The House had earlier passed the confidence motion with 18 votes in favour and six against.

It's a violation of Constitution: Parrikar

Terming the dismissal a gross violation of the Constitution, Mr. Parrikar said he was examining the various legal options . He said the Governor, who had asked the Speaker to conduct the special Assembly session and send a report immediately, did not even wait for the report. "He not only disregarded the House, but also his own words," he added.

Mr. Parrikar said the action was pre-meditated as none of the Congress members was prepared to attend the session and went to the Governor in the afternoon.

"It was probably cooked up in the afternoon when they went to [the] Raj Bhavan in the afternoon, where [the] senior Congress leader, Priyaranjan Das Munshi, was also present, and came back only to create trouble in the House," Mr. Parrikar said.

He said the Raj Bhavan messenger was in the Assembly complex by 5.40 p.m. itself, just when the session had concluded, and alleged that the order must have been prepared while the session was on.

He wondered why the Congress MLAs had to go to the Raj Bhavan just before the House was to assemble. The Governor could withdraw his pleasure only when the Chief Minister had lost the confidence of the House, he said and maintained that he had won the trust vote. The constitutional provision (Article 164) was not final and it had to be exercised in the light of various decisions of the Supreme Court, he said.

Mr. Parrikar also reiterated his earlier charge that the Raj Bhavan had become "the Congress headquarters" and that "Mr. Jamir was acting like a Congressman."

A pall of gloom descended on the State BJP headquarters, which had earlier celebrated with bursting of crackers the Government winning the confidence vote.

People were seen discussing the events that followed the withdrawal of support and resignation of the four BJP MLAs.

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