Panaji:
Independent MLA Prasad Gaonkar, who had extended support to the Manohar Parrikar government in Goa, on Tuesday expressed unhappiness over the functioning of the BJP-led ruling coalition and tendered his resignation from the post of chairman of a state-run corporation.
Gaonkar claimed that in absence of Chief Minister Parrikar, who is admitted at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi because of a pancreatic ailment, the entire administration has come to a standstill.
Asked by reporters if he would withdraw his support to the BJP-led government, he said, “Any decision I take about the government will be only after taking my voters into confidence.”
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Gaonkar is among the three Independent legislators supporting the Parrikar government, which also has the backing of two regional outfits - the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) and the Goa Forward Party (GFP) (three MLAs each)- and the NCP (one MLA).
The BJP has 14 MLAs and the Congress has 16 in the 40-member House.
The legislator from Sanguem in South Goa tendered his resignation as chairman of the Goa State Forest Development Corporation (GSFDC).
“When the state forest minister himself is absent for long time, what kind of development can we expect in that department?,” Gaonkar said after resigning from the post.
Parrikar holds the forest portfolio among others.
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He said he is unhappy with the functioning of the Parrikar government.
“I had supported Manohar Parrikar as the chief minister because I was impressed with his style of functioning. But now I find that the current government has done injustice to my people,” he said.
Gaonkar was among the group of six MLAs, headed by GFP president Vijai Sardesai, who expressed solidarity with the Parrikar government before a team of BJP central observers.
The three-member team was in the coastal state last week to assess the political situation in the state in view of Parrikar’s hospitalisation.
Gaonkar said the BJP-led government has failed to find solutions to key issues like the ban on the mining industry, which is a source of livelihood for thousands of people in the state.
Of late, the political situation in Goa has been a matter of much speculation in the backdrop of Parrikar’s illness.
However, BJP president Amit Shah has said the 62-year-old chief minister would remain in his post.
The Opposition Congress has been claiming that all is not well in the BJP-led coalition government and has demanded a confidence vote in the Assembly.
On the other hand, the BJP has asserted that its government continues to have the support of a majority of MLAs.
