Digvijaya blames own party for Goa fiasco

Criticised for his failure to install a Congress government in Goa, party general secretary Digvijaya Singh on Friday said his efforts were “sabotaged by our own leaders”.

In a damage-control exercise, Singh asserted that there was no delay in electing the leader of the Congress Legislature Party, saying a meeting of the newly elected MLAs was convened on March 12, the day after the results of the Assembly polls were declared.

The Congress emerged as the single largest party with 17 seats in the 40-seat Goa Assembly, while the BJP finished with 13.

However, the saffron party made quick moves to ensure that it had the support of the smaller parties and the independents.

Singh also slammed Goa Governor Mridula Sinha, who claimed in an interview that she consulted Finance Minister Arun Jaitley before inviting Manohar Parrikar to form the government.

“As a strategy, I had proposed a secular alliance with regional party headed by Babush Monserrate and Goa Forward headed by Vijay Sardesai. Our alliance with Babush went through and we won 3 out of 5 but our alliance with Goa Forward was sabotaged by our own leaders. Sad,” Singh said in a series of tweets.

Later, interacting with the media in Parliament, Singh accused Union Minister Nitin Gadkari of indulging in horse-trading to cobble up the numbers to form the government in Goa.

The Congress had struck a pre-poll understanding with the Goa Forward Party, which won three seats.

But it eventually supported Parrikar, who was sworn in as the chief minister on Tuesday and proved his majority in the Assembly on Thursday.

“Goa Forward won 3 out of 4 (seats) they contested. Had our alliance with Goa Forward gone through we would have been 22. Still Digvijaya guilty? I leave it to you to judge,” Singh’s tweet read.

He also pointed out that traditionally the party in power at the Centre formed governments in Goa whenever there was a fractured mandate.

In 1994 and 2007, when elections in the state threw up a hung Assembly, the Congress, which was in power at the Centre, managed to form the government.