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Goa Ministers rush to Delhi

PANAJI: The Congress-led coalition is poised to witness a re-alignment as a consequence of the crisis-resolution formula mooted by the Central leaders of the Congress and the Nationalist Congress (NCP) on Saturday.

The proposed formula has caused panic reactions, and several senior Congress Ministers have sought the help of other alliance partners to counter it. According to the formula, a Congress Minister would be dropped and a reshuffle of major portfolios be carried out.

The crisis faced by the seven-month-old Congress-led coalition government after the three-member NCP and an Independent withdrew support last week was successfully tackled by the Central leaders of the Congress and the NCP on Saturday.

What appears to have set the cat among the pigeons in the Congress camp on Sunday was the move to drop a Congress Minister to accommodate Ramkrishna Dhavlikar, one of the two MLAs of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party. The MGP has pledged support to the government in the aftermath of the latest crisis.

Minister for Public Works Churchill Alemao, who heads the two-member Save Goa Front, and unattached United Goan Democratic Party MLA Atanasio Monserrate rushed to Delhi on Sunday with a proposal to merge their outfits with the Congress in a bid to scuttle the induction of Mr. Dhavlikar. Mr. Alemao is opposing the ruling coalition’s move to drop his brother and Minister for Urban Development, Joaquim Alemao (Congress), from the Cabinet.

Later, Minister for Finance and IT Dayanand Narvekar and Home Minister Ravi Naik also left for Delhi in a bid to persuade the Central leadership from divesting them of their portfolios. Ironically, the latest crisis ended by raising the support base of the coalition government from 23 to 26. The two MGP MLAs and Independent MLA Anil Salgaoncar, who had aligned with the Bharatiya Janata Party after Assembly elections last year, also declared their support for the government.

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