Digvijaya came to Goa for 'luxury, not work': Parrikar post floor test win

Panaji: Soon after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerged successful in the crucial floor test with the support of 22 legislators, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Thursday trained his guns on Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh and said that the latter had come to the coastal state for luxury and not to work.

"The Congress coming down for the floor test was possibly all a hype because it was being demanded that Digvijaya should be kept down as the general secretary. He had to do something. This happens when you come to Goa just to enjoy, not to work," Parrikar told the media here.

Parrikar asserted that by proving their majority in the 40-member assembly, they have busted the Congress' myth of "having numbers" in their favour.

"The resolution motion was passed with 22 to 16, with the Speaker also supporting the ruling coalition making it the support of 23 MLAs. We have proved our majority to the whole of India as the live coverage was being sent to almost every section of the media, debunking Digvijaya's claims that they had numbers. They didn't have any numbers since the beginning," he said.

"There were wild allegations being made. Those with coloured glasses were making those allegations. But, as you could see people came and voluntarily supported us. They were not kept in a hotel room or a secluded common place," he added.

Parrikar steered clear of any questions on Congress MLA Vishwajit Rane, who had written a letter to party vice-president Rahul Gandhi complaining about the senior party leaders for their slow decision making that cost them the chance to form the government in Goa and Manipur.

"The last time I commented on him, the Opposition tried to make a commentary about it. I will not comment about it. He just came and shook hand with me. Goa is such a small state. Everybody knows each other," he said.

On the question of electing a deputy chief minister, Parrikar said theirs was a coalition government and the coalition would have to decide on the name.

Earlier today, Parrikar won the floor test with 22 MLAs standing in his support. 16 MLAs opposed Parrikar's candidature as the Chief Minister, while one MLA was absent.

Parrikar, who stepped down as Defence Minister, was sworn-in as the chief minister of the coastal state for the fourth time on Tuesday evening, along with nine ministers.

But with the Congress challenging his appointment, citing Goa Governor Mridula Sinha did not follow the procedure as dictated by the Constitution, the Supreme Court earlier this week asked the test to be conducted on Thursday.

A special Assembly session was convened for the purpose.