Goa CM Manohar Parrikar wins trust vote with 22 MLAs to Congress' 16

New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government in Goa, headed by Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, won the crucial floor test today with support of 22 MLAs.

A special Assembly session was convened for the purpose. Congress MLA Vishwajit Rane abstained and walked out of Assembly during trust vote. Congress could only manage to sway 16 votes.

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.

After winning the trust vote, Parrikar said, “We have proved before the people of India, we had the support of 23 and we proved it on the floor of House. Digvijaya Singh’s claims that they have numbers debunked. They didn’t have numbers right from the beginning.”

“We had 23 MLAs with us, all stood by us. 22 voted in our favour, the Speaker, who is from our party could of course not vote,” said Parrikar.

Parrikar said that it is a government of coalition and that decisions will be taken by the coalition on appointing a deputy CM.

He also said that a cabinet meeting has been scheduled for Friday.

BJP president Amit Shah and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari had attended Parrikar's swearing-in ceremony. Former Goa chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar was also present. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had congratulated Manohar Parrikar, to which he replied saying, "Thank you Pradhan Mantriji. As always, looking forward to your full support & cooperation for the development of Goa."

The BJP had bagged 13 seats in the polls. Congress had won 17 seats.