Mumbai, February 27
Chief Minister Pratapsinh Rane will face his trust vote in the Goa Assembly tomorrow even as his victory remains uncertain.
Already horse-trade has begun in the state and the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party have moved their respective MLAs to secret locations to prevent them from being poached by the other side.
According to sources here, both sides have obtained support of money-bags and mine-owners in Goa. Amounts between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 10 lakh are being offered to MLAs from both sides to resign ahead of the trust vote.
Speaker Vishwas Satarkar of the Bharatiya Janata Party is the centre of all attention with the Congress getting Governor S C Jamir to issue him directions about the conduct of the vote.
Only last month, Governor Jamir had dismissed the BJP’s Manohar Parrikar government amidst high drama in the legislature. Since then, the BJP’s number two MLA Digambar Kamat quit his seat pushing the party to a minority in the truncated 35-member Assembly.
Today, the Governor asked the Speaker to provide separate seating arrangements for the MLAs supporting the Congress-led coalition. He also asked the Speaker to allow the electronic media cover the proceedings of the House after Mr Satarkar earlier decided to let in only the print media to cover the special session.
Meanwhile, Mr Parrikar demanded that the Governor assured him that he would accept the decision of the House. “I would first of all like to have an assurance that the Governor will accept the decision of the House, whatever the result might be. Last time he disregarded the fact that I enjoy the majority of the House and dismissed my government,” he maintained.
The former Chief Minister demanded his government be reinstated as he was confident of defeating Mr Rane in the confidence vote.
