News18 Daybreak | Goa CM Pramod Sawant to Face Floor Test Today and Other Stories You Need to Watch Out For

What to Watch Out For

Goa CM Pramod Sawant to face floor test today, says he is confident of a victory

Two days since his appointment, the Goa CM Pramod Sawant will face a floor test in the Assembly today. Sawant, who was sworn in on Monday night following the demise of Manohar Parrikar, said his government had sought the vote of confidence to prove its strength in the Assembly.

The BJP-led government in the coastal state claims the support of 21 MLAs - 12 from the BJP, three each of allies Goa Forward Party (GFP) and Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) and three Independents.

The floor test is slated to take place in a session convened by Governor Mridula Sinha at 11.30 am.

Show of strength: Today’s floor test will come amid tensions with the Congress party over the BJP’s stake on the government. Although Congress has the most number of legislators in the Assembly at 14, the BJP managed to continue its hold over the government in the state after renewed support from its smaller allies, the MGP and the GFP.

Expressing his confidence over today’s vote Sawant said,” "We have 21 MLAs and hence we are definitely confident of not having any problem in floor test, we will surely prove our majority”

Timeline of power tussle: The Congress had attempted to meet Governor Sinha on Friday to stake a claim over the government hours after news of Parrikar’s deteriorating health emerged. Following this, they submitted two letters to Sinha over the same claim but didn’t receive a response.

After Parrikar’s demise on Sunday both the state Congress and BJP, who had already held several rounds of meetings, acted quickly. Union Minister Nitin Gadkari flew in on Sunday night to meet with the MLAs of the BJP and their allies for a round of negotiations and parleys which would last till Monday night.

Meanwhile, all 14 Congress MLAs directly met with the Governor after they were allegedly not given an appointment.

It was around 2 am that Pramod Sawant was sworn in as the CM following hectic parleys and negotiations. Also initiated were two deputy chief ministers, Goa Forward Party chief Vijai Sardesai and Maharashtra Gomantak Party MLA Sudin Dhavalikar, and nine other ministers.

He said she said: Several Congress leaders including Kapil Sibal hit out at the ruling party and even the Governor over the appointments saying that it was their party which holds the majority.

“We're strongly condemning undemocratic action of Goa Governor Mridula Sinha for not allowing our single largest party to form the govt and allowing BJP to carry on horse trading despite BJP not having sufficient numbers to form the govt," Congress's Sunil Kawthankar had said.

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