Chief Minister Mr. Manohar Parrikar has won the crucial trust vote in the Goa Assembly on Thursday, 16th March, with the support of 22 MLAs including smaller parties and independents. Former Defense Minister Mr. Parrikar was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Goa for the fourth time on Tuesday along with 9 ministers. But the Supreme Court ordered for an immediate trust vote since his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) finished 2nd in the recently Goa assembly elections 2017. Initially, the Supreme Court ordered for this trust vote within 15 days, but it has been advanced to 48 hours after the SC ordered that the Goa Governor call a one-day session at 11 am Thursday. This has been ordered, after the Congress petitioned a question to the apex court that how the Governor did not invite the Congress, single largest party, to form the government first.
Mr. Parrikar has proved his majority on the floor of the assembly. At the same time, one congress MLA Viswajit Rane abstained from voting in protest. And later he tendered his resignation as an MLA and from the congress party also. As a result, congress came down to figure 16. At around 1:00 o clock in the afternoon, Viswajit Rane reacted for abstaining from the trust vote and said that this is the first step of opposition against the Congress. He also said, “Congress had to stitch up an alliance on 11th March. Congress party itself is the main reason for this situation”. But the interesting part is that CM Manohar Parrikar has refused to comment on Viswajit Rane’s resignation and abstaining from the trust vote and said that it was only the matter of congress, they should deal with it.
But Mr. Parrikar has commented on the portfolio. He said that tomorrow he will allot portfolios to all the cabinet ministers and the notification will come out after a day as the Governor of Goa is out of the station. After completion of the budget session, in the first week of April, a full-fledged allotment of portfolios will take place. A few days ago Congress leader Digvijay Singh claimed that they have numbers, but now Parrikar has proved before India that they have the support of 22 as they claimed. Parrikar also said that the Cabinet meeting will be held on 17th March at 11:00 O clock in the morning to clear the Governor’s speech in the Budget session. A full structure of ministers will be announced in that meeting; only after the budget session is concluded.
However, BJP will be the boss of Goa for next 5 years but what about their development program. Goa Forward’s Vijay Sardesai has insisted him to describe the common minimum program planned for development. Mr. Parrikar said that all the programs and policies will be announced in the middle of April month. This will highlight the path of Goa and trend of development graph in terms of its developmental policies.
