Backed by independents, regional parties, BJPs Manohar Parrikar has claimed the support of 22 MLAs.
Highlights
- Manohar Parrikar takes oath as Goa Chief Minister
- Congress legislators upset with leader Digvijaya Singh
- They feel he blew their chances of forming the government
Manohar Parrikar is back in charge of his home state of Goa. After taking oath as Chief Minister today, he derided the Congress, which unsuccessfully asked the Supreme Court to stop his swearing-in ceremony this evening.
"The Supreme Court gave Congress a
phatkaar (strong rebuke)," Mr Parrikar, 58, told NDTV.
On the orders of the top court, Mr Parrikar will take a trust vote on Thursday at 11 am. To remain Chief Minister, he has to win 21 of 40 votes. That should not be a problem. The Congress won 17 seats, the BJP 13, and two regional parties, Congress Forward and the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party or MGP won three each. Both have committed support to Mr Parrikar in writing. In return, five of their legislators have been made ministers in his government. Independent legislators have chipped in to help Mr Parrikar claim 22 legislators are on his side.
The Congress has complained in court and outside that though it had the most legislators, it was not asked by Governor Mridula Sinha to form the government illustrating blatant favouritism for the BJP. Not true, says Mr Parrikar's party, insisting that the Congress failed to approach the Governor with evidence that it could muster 21 seats - a point with which the Supreme Court agreed.
"Inspite of having 17 seats, they (the Congress) are still fighting internally, so no one is in the mood to support them," said Mr Parrikar. He was referring to the Congress misspending time on the weekend in a fight over its presumptive Chief Minister.
While the Congress argued over leadership, the BJP collated its alliance with late-night negotiations.Mr Parrikar mocked the Congress for its anger with leader Digvijaya Singh who is being accused by party legislators in Goa of mismanagement."They came in a bus, because if they came in cars, one or two cars would have disappeared," said the new Chief Minister, alleging that Congress legislators are frustrated enough to exit their party.
The Congress says that the Governor was obliged to invite it, as the party with the most seats, to form the government, and that a post-results alliance, as formed by the BJP, was wrongly given first dibs. The BJP denies that; Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said today that "In the face of claim of 21 MLAs led by Manohar Parrikar, Goa Governor couldn't have invited minority of 17 Congress MLAs to form government."