former union minister Renuka Chowdhury said the mandate was given to the party and it was natural for its MLAs to feel bitter about not being able to form the government.
'Why are the people who stood with the Congress through thick and thin, why are they leaving?'
Michael Lobo, who resigned as deputy speaker of the Goa Legislative Assembly, and three of the 10 MLAs who joined the BJP -- Chandrakant Kavlekar, Jeniffer Monserratte, Philip Neri Rodrigues -- were sworn in as new ministers.
While the Congress currently has 14 MLAs, down from 16 after Sopte and Shirodkar left it to join the BJP, the latter has 13 MLAs.
With this, the Congress's strength in the 40-member assembly reduced to 14 from 16.
'The greed for power of the BJP and its allies is exposed to the fact that they can't even give charge to a trusted lieutenant in the absence of the CM.'
The BJP has the cadres, organisation, and extensive funding. But in the absence of a towering political personality like Manohar Parrikar, the Goa outcome is hard to predict.
The Parliament session is set to start today, with various issues slated to be discussed, including the Waqf Act (Amendment) Bill.
The Aam Aadmi Party, which entered the fray with much fanfare, failed to make any impact at the hustings.
The Goa Congress has demanded Sri Ram Sene chief Pramod Muthalik be detained under the National Security Act, claiming him as a "threat to national security".
Debutant legislator Rekha Gupta was sworn in as Delhi chief minister along with six ministers on Thursday in a grand show of strength full of colour and spectacle to mark the Bharatiya Janata Party's return to power in the city after more than 26 years.
Speaking to reporters in Panaji, the BJP's Goa desk in-charge C T Ravi said there was no discontent among the eight MLAs who joined the party earlier this year.
The petition has also sought quashing of the decision of the governor to appoint Parrikar as the chief minister.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his cabinet colleagues Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, Rajnath Singh, chief ministers of Nationalist Democratic Alliance-ruled states and prominent personalities from industry and Bollywood on Thursday attended the grand swearing-in of Devendra Fadnavis as Maharashtra Chief Minister in Mumbai.
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 senior BJP leader said a reshuffle was likely in the next few days as the party would need to accommodate at least a couple of Congress MLAs who have crossed over,
The Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC), which contested the Goa Assembly elections for the first time this year, failed to make a mark in the coastal state.
Chidambaram, who is the Congress' senior election observer for the assembly polls next year, asserted that the Trinamool Congress' entry into Goa "appears to be an imposition from the top that is based in West Bengal" and said he does not know the Mamata Banerjee-led party's motive in trying to start a unit in Goa by "encouraging defections" from other parties.
Goa Excise Commissioner Narayan Gad on Thursday disallowed a complaint demanding suspension of the excise licence of a restaurant which the Congress claimed was linked to Union minister Smriti Irani's family.
The ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist on Monday took a veiled dig at the Congress by asking it to safeguard its newly elected Karnataka MLAs from being poached by the Bharatiya Janata Party as was allegedly done by the saffron party in Goa amidst the Bharat Jodo Yatra.
In a fresh attempt to find a solution to the Goa crisis, two of the four rebel legislators have agreed to talk to the central leaders of the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
"Goa is currently being run through remote control. Whatever Modi wants, happens in Goa," he said.
Left with just three MLAs, the Congress does not have the required one tenth of the legislative strength in the 40-member House to claim the Cabinet minister-level post.
'This is the first time in Goa politics that a communal leadership is being foisted on Goa's people.'
A month after Sudin Dhavalikar, PWD minister in the Manohar Parrikar-led Bharatiya Janata Party government in Goa, asked for a ban on bikinis on beaches, his party member Lavoo Mamledar said that if tourism had to be promoted and is necessary, then there could be a bikini beach with entry fees.
In a fresh twist to the row over an upscale Goa bar which the Congress has linked with Union minister Smriti Irani's daughter, the district administration has issued a notice to the local village panchayat seeking relevant documents in response to a complaint alleging the outlet was built illegally.
Initiating a reshuffle within the party, Congress president Sonia Gandhi appointed K C Venugopal as its general secretary in-charge for Karnataka along with four secretaries.
In what could signal the end of its long-standing alliance with the Congress in Goa, the Nationalist Congress Party on Thursday announced its decision to contest both the seats in the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls.
The AAP suffered a humiliating defeat in Haryana with most of its candidates set to lose their security deposit.
The swearing-in ceremony will be held at the Raj Bhavan at 11 am, sources said.
A senior state BJP leader had said earlier in the day that Sawant would induct BJP MLA and Deputy Speaker of Goa Assembly Michael Lobo, and three of the ten MLAs who have switched over from the Congress.
The recent move by a group of eight Congress MLAs in Goa to merge with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party was as per constitutional norms, state assembly speaker Ramesh Tawadkar said.
Goa Congress today filed a police complaint against state Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar for allegedly abetting suicide of a suspended mines and geology department official.
Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi on Thursday held discussions with office bearers in Goa, during his first ever visit to the state after his party faced humiliating defeat in the assembly elections early this year.
Nationalist Congress Party in Goa on Friday took strong cognisance of a statement by a Congress leader that the Sharad Pawar-led party was colluding with Bharatiya Janata Party to destabilise the Congress-led government in the state.
The Shiv Sena and Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party on Wednesday decided to forge a pre-poll alliance for the next month's assembly elections in Goa, saying that the Congress didn't respond to their proposal for a joint contest.
Goa govt collapses, Congress coalition minority.
In Goa, where Assembly elections are a few months away, a delegation of Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders led by Lok Sabha member Saugata Roy and including former Union Minister Babul Supriyo and the party's vice president Luizinho Faleiro met Governor P S Sridharan Pillai and requested him to immediately seek resignation from the chief minister and announce investigation by an independent agency.
State Congress chief Girish Chodankar told reporters that AAP leaders were 'already in talks with Congress leaders'.
Attacking the BJP, he said that the saffron party has remained a complete failure in the areas of COVID-19 management, livelihood, tourism.
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