In a cruel twist of fate for the Goa Congress, the Goa unit of BJP with 4 MLAs lesser than the Congress, staked claim to form the Government and received the Governor’s assent as well. While the Congress was bickering over who would be their CM face, the Goa BJP swiftly held talks with smaller parties and stitched together an unlikely alliance overnight.
Miffed by this, the Congress took the matter to the Supreme Court:
#JUSTIN | Supreme Court agrees to urgently hear Congress’ petition challenging appointment of @manoharparrikar as Goa CM, reports ANI
— Times of India (@timesofindia) March 13, 2017
Legalities aside, even as the Congress is taking umbrage to the BJP and other smaller parties, Goa Congress MLAs themselves are unwilling to blame others and have started attacking the Congress party and its leaders.
Vishwajit Rane, who is a former Minister and son of Former CM and current MLA Pratapsingh Rane, slammed the Congress party saying he felt “let down at the functioning of the party leaders who could not take a decision at the right time”. He further said that he had told Digvijay Singh that he would no longer work for the party and that his voters had black-listed Congress for the future.
It was reported that he had quit the party but at least at the time of writing this story, he seems to be in the Congress. However, he has warned that he along with 6 more MLAs could very soon quit the party and that at least 13 MLAs are upset at the party’s functioning.
Striking a similar chord, another Congress MLA Jennifer Monserrate also slammed the Congress and its leaders:
Our party leaders are to be blamed for the failure to form the government. People had given us the mandate but party leaders failed to respect it. It is entirely their fault
In an audio recording which has now gone viral on social media, she is heard trashing the Congress leadership both in the state and also the central leaders. She went on to say that the Congress is today the “laughing-stock” of the state, and that the entire internal processes for electing a leader were a sham. She further said that there was no point in blaming others and the entire blame lied with the Congress party:
Similarly, Curtorim Congress MLA Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco said that the people wanted the Congress to form the government but party leaders miserably failed to honour the verdict:
Why should we blame someone for forming the government, when we failed in our responsibility?
Political circles are now rife with speculation about an imminent split in the Congress.
