Goa Chief Minister Digambar Kamat and all Congress members in his cabinet figure in the party's first list of 22 candidates for the March 3 assembly polls, which was announced in Panaji on Saturday. The list contains two new faces, but the party has sprung a surprise by denying a ticket to Victoria Fernandes, the Congress' lone woman legislator. Goa Pradesh Congress Committee President Subhash Shirodkar said the second and final list of 11 nominees will be announced on Sunday
Goa Chief Minister Digambar Kamat on Thursday said that the officials from state mines and geology department protecting illegal mines, will be dealt with stern punishment.
In an interview to CNN-IBN on Wednesday, Goa Chief Minister Digambar Kamat obliquely blamed the Russian girl, who was allegedly raped by local politician John Fernandes, for the incident, saying she should not have gone out with male acquaintances late in the night.
"We have decided to approach the Supreme Court to get justice despite having numbers on our side. The floor-test was bulldozed by the Speaker," Manohar Parrikar, GDA leader, told PTI on Monday night.
In sharp contrast to the stand taken by his secretary yesterday, Commerce Minister Kamal Nath on Thursday said the Centre can review all special economic zones in Goa as it does not want to thrust SEZs on the states.
"They tried to buy our MLAs in Delhi and now in Punjab but we exposed them (BJP)," Kejriwal said.
'A daily dose of diversion & disinformation is handed out to undermine the Yatra. We remain undeterred. We will overcome these dirty tricks of the BJP'
Goa govt collapses, Congress coalition minority.
First reversal after last year's protests in the state.
The five-state assembly poll results announced on Thursday brought gloom for several political heavyweights, including two current and five former chief ministers, who lost the electoral battle from their respective seats.
While none of the five 'rebel' MLAs were available for comments, sources in the BJP claimed the legislators were in touch with them.
It is a record that the saffron party has created, where the majority of its legislators belonged to the minority community.
Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar said on Friday that half the government officials in the state administration would go behind bars if the "scams committed during the former Congress-led government" were to be investigated.
In a similar move in July 2019, 10 Congress MLAs had switched over to the BJP.
Hit hard by defections in the last five years, the Congress in Goa on Friday made its candidates sign affidavits and take an oath of loyalty to the party in the presence of its senior leader Rahul Gandhi.
Digambar Kamat has been summoned by the Crime Branch to appear before it on Wednesday in connection with the case.
Goa Police on Thursday conducted searches at the residence of former Chief Minister Digambar Kamat and in other places in the state in connection with the Louis Berger bribery case.
Former Goa minister Churchill Alemao has filed a fresh bail application before the special court in connection with the Louis Berger bribery case.
The opposition party termed the defection by eight out of its 11 MLAs in Goa only seven months after the assembly elections as the "height of betrayal and shamelessness."
In the 2012 assembly elections, Goa had recorded an impressive 81.8 per cent voting.
All the candidates checked in the resort on Tuesday evening with their luggage, indicating that the government formation may be a long haul.
'This is a new Congress. Let the BJP be warned.'
Five Goa Congress MLAs, who went incommunicado a day before, attended the state assembly proceedings on the first day of the monsoon session on Monday, and claimed there was 'nothing wrong' in the opposition party.
In the 2017 state assembly polls, the Congress had emerged as the single largest party by winning 17 seats.
Akolkar is believed to be linked to 'Sanatan Sanstha', a Hindu right-wing organization whose headquarters are located in Ponda, Goa. He has been on the run ever since his name cropped up during the NIA investigations in the Goa blast case.
Louis Berger officials had allegedly paid Rs 50-60 lakh each as bribe to former Chief Minister Digambar Kamat and the then Public Works Department Minister Churchill Alemao.
A day after a Goa minister ignited a controversy by his remark that India will develop as a Hindu nation under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the state's Deputy Chief Minister Francis D'Souza on Friday stoked it further, saying India is already a Hindu nation and will always remain so.
'Kejriwal could have easily deputed someone to step in as chief minister, but being the authoritative and self-centered personality that he is, he chose not to do it.' 'If the AAP loses Delhi, where it has a huge majority, the only one to blame would be Kejriwal,' asserts Ramesh Menon.
In the last two-and-a half years, the Congress has lost 13 of its MLAs to the BJP which now enjoys an overwhelming majority in the assembly.
In 2012, Parsekar had shown his movable and immovable assets at Rs 10.74 crore which now stand at Rs 8.98 crores.
Rane did not rule out the possibility of joining the BJP, saying 'all options are open'.
Ahead of the 2022 assembly elections, Churchill Alemao 'merged' the NCP with the TMC. The 'merger' took place when Mamata Banerjee was in Mumbai talking to NCP supreme leader Sharad Pawar on how to forge Opposition unity!
They said this was preliminary voter turnout and the final figure may cross 80 per cent as electoral fate of 301 candidates were locked in EVMs which will be opened on March 10 for counting.
The Aam Aadmi Party, which entered the fray with much fanfare, failed to make any impact at the hustings.
'They just want to show that the Congress is in disarray.'
'TMC was calling me, AAP was also calling me.' 'But my supporters helped me realise that the people of Goa are backing the Congress this time to defeat the BJP.'
Amid speculation that he would return to Goa politics, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Saturday kept everyone guessing by describing himself as a "party man" who will work as per the directions of party leaders.
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