No delay in electing CLP leader in Goa: Digvijaya Singh

Panaji: Claiming that there was no delay in electing the Congress Legislature Party leader, Digvijaya Singh today accused Goa Governor Mridula Sinha of "acting against the Constitution" in not giving preference to the party to form the government in the coastal state.

"There was no delay in electing a leader (of the Congress Legislature Party) in Goa. By 3.30 pm (on March 12), we had decided on our leader and were trying to contact Vijay Sardesai (of Goa Forward party), who had promised support to us at midnight (the intervening night of March 11 and 12).

"He (Sardesai) had set certain conditions, we had agreed to them and I had even made him contact Rahul Gandhi at midnight. After we elected our leader, we contacted him, but by that time, he had had dealings with Nitin Gadkari," Singh told reporters outside Parliament.

Alleging that the Goa Governor had acted against the Constitution, he said, "The Sarkaria Commission guidelines state that the single largest party should be given the first opportunity to form the government, and if it can't (form the government), then the second option should be exercised."

Sinha has drawn flak from the Congress for inviting the BJP to form the government in Goa, despite the saffron party winning only 13 of the 40 seats against the Congress' 17.

The saffron party stitched a post-poll alliance with the Goa Forward Party, Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party, NCP and a few Independent MLAs to form government in Goa. BJP's Manohar Parrikar was sworn-in as the chief minister, who proved his majority in the Assembly yesterday.

A group of Congress legislators in Goa had blamed the party's top leadership for the failure to form government in the coastal state, despite emerging as the single largest party.

Vishwajit Rane, who quit the Congress after being elected, today blamed the top leadership of the party including Singh, the Congress general secretary in-charge of the coastal state, for the "blunder" they committed.

He also claimed that the Goa Forward Party had shown inclination to forge an alliance with the Congress if Digambar Kamat was chosen as the CLP leader.
"But, the party took time to discuss the proposal and lost out on the opportunity to form the government," Rane said.

Meanwhile, referring to the Goa Governor's "psychologist" remark, Singh said, "Now, a new qualification for a Governor is that he or she should be a psychologist."

In an interview to a newspaper, Sinha had said she was a psychologist and had studied and analysed Parrikar and his supporters who had come to meet her.