Manohar Parrikar stakes claim to form the next government in Goa

Mumbai: In a surprise move, Union defence minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Manohar Parrikar met Goa governor Mridula Sinha on Sunday evening along with 22 legislators, and staked claim to form the next government in the coastal state. Parrikar later told reporters that he would soon resign as defence minister.

In Goa’s 40-member assembly, the Congress has 17 seats, BJP 13, Maharashtravadi Gomantak Party (MGP) and Goa Forward Party (GFP) three seats each, independents three, and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) one. MGP and GFP separately passed resolutions earlier in the day announcing support to the BJP, provided Parrikar returns as the chief minister. BJP also secured support from two independents as well as Churchill Alemao, the sole winner from NCP. With this, the BJP-led alliance’s tally has gone up to 22.

Before Parrikar met the governor, senior BJP leader and Goa observer Nitin Gadkari had told reporters that the BJP parliamentary board and party president Amit Shah had conveyed their decision to let Parrikar stake claim for the BJP government. “The party president and parliamentary board have conveyed their decision that Parrikar is free to stake claim. He would resign in due course as defence minister,” Gadkari said.

Earlier in the day, newly-elected BJP legislators in Goa passed a resolution requesting party president Amit Shah to send Parrikar as chief minister. A BJP legislator, who was part of this meeting, said Parrikar was the only BJP leader who could “install a BJP government in the state with support from others”.

“It is only Parrikar who can negotiate with the independents and ensure that a stable, efficient, and development-oriented BJP government is formed in Goa. There is no one else in the BJP who has the pan-Goa appeal and support like Parrikar has,” the legislator said.

Parrikar was the chief minister of Goa from March 2012 to November 2014 when he was moved to the centre by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In the recently concluded assembly polls, Parrikar was the star campaigner for the BJP and central BJP leaders like Amit Shah and Goa in-charge Nitin Gadkari indicated during the campaign that Parrikar could return as the chief minister.

Of the nine BJP ministers in the outgoing government, seven, including chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar, lost in the elections.

The Congress continued its efforts to form government in Goa on Sunday. Its newly-elected legislators met to elect the new Congress legislative party leader, who would automatically be the party’s chief ministerial nominee. The party, however, did not select the leader till evening on Sunday.

Meanwhile, All India Congress Committee general secretary and Goa in-charge Digvijaya Singh alleged in Goa that the BJP, despite winning only 13 seats, was subverting the mandate. He said the Congress was in talks with the independents and smaller parties to form the government.

Regardless, the BJP went ahead with efforts to form the government, emboldened by the resolutions passed by both MGP and GFP that they would support the BJP only if Parrikar was the chief ministerial candidate.