The Hindu : Front Page : Congress-NCP alliance set to form government in Goa

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Wednesday, Jun 06, 2007
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Congress-NCP alliance set to form government in Goa

Prakash Kamat

Congress meeting authorises Sonia to decide on chief ministerial candidate

AFTER THE VERDICT: Goa Chief Minister Pratapsinh Rane at his residence in Panaji on Tuesday after the announcement of the Assembly election results. At right, the former Chief Minister and BJP leader, Manohar Parrikar, greeted by his supporters after he won from the Panaji constituency. — Photos: PTI

PANAJI: The Congress-NCP (Nationalist Congress Party) alliance has won 19 seats and emerged as the largest combination in a fractured verdict of the Goa Assembly elections.

In the results declared here on Tuesday, the Bharatiya Janata Party bagged 14 seats. While the Save Goa Front (SGF) and the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) won two seats each, the United Goans Democratic party (UGDP) got one and Independents two. Rebel Congressman Churchill Alemao, who formed the SGF, bagged the Navelim seat by over 5,000 votes, defeating veteran Congressman and Industries Minister Luisinho Faleiro.

A meeting of the newly elected Congress MLAs at the official residence of Chief Minister Pratapsinh Rane on Tuesday evening authorised the party president, Sonia Gandhi, to decide on the chief ministerial candidate.

The AICC general secretary who is in charge of Goa Affairs, Margaret Alva, and AICC secretary and observer Siddarth Patel attended the meeting.

Sources in the Congress said the leaders would meet the MLAs individually and seek their opinion on the next chief minister. A decision in this regard would be taken in the next two days.

In an informal interaction with presspersons ahead of the meeting, Mr. Rane avoided a direct reply to a question whether the Congress-NCP combine would not take the help of the two members of the MGP, which is part of the earlier alliance, to form the next government. "The present government is only a caretaker government, that government is part of the history," he said.

Peeved at by the MGP's attempts to defeat some Congress candidates in the elections, some of the Congress leaders, led by GPCC president Ravi Naik, had advocated keeping that party out while forming a government with the help of the two Independents.

With Independent Vishwajit Rane, son of the Chief Minister Pratapsingh Rane, extending support to the alliance, the Congress leaders swung into action to woo the second Independent to reach the 21 number-mark for a simple majority in the 40-member House.

"We have 20 legislators on our side while talks are on with the second Independent Anil Salgaoncar (Sanvordem), who has given enough indications to support us," senior Congress leader Shantaram Naik told The Hindu.

Ministers defeated

The poll results saw several bigwigs, including senior Ministers, biting the dust. They include Deputy Chief Minister Wilfred de Souza, who heads the State NCP, the former Chief Minister and Speaker, Francisco Sardinha, the former Chief Minister and Industries Minister, Luizinho Faleiro, Congress spokesman Jitendra Deshprabhu and the former Union Law Minister, Ramakant Khalap. Minister for Social Welfare Subhash Shirodkar was defeated by his former personal secretary Mahadev Naik of the BJP in Shiroda.

Chief Minister Rane, who is in active politics for over 35 years, won the Assembly election from his home constituency Poriem for the ninth consecutive term by a margin of 4,112 votes.

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