Parrikar takes oath as Goa CM, will take floor test tomorrow
SC RAPS CONGRESS Top court says Congress should have put proof of support in front of governor in time; rejects stay plea
Manohar Parrikar, who quit as defence minister, took oath on Tuesday as the chief minister of Goa to head a coalition government, three days after the BJP ended up second behind the Congress in a fractured mandate.
Parrikar (61) took oath along with nine MLAs including two members of the BJP, three of the Goa Forward Party, two of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) and as many Independents. His swearing-in was cleared by the Supreme Court earlier on Tuesday after it was approached by the Congress.
The top court allowed the BJP to form government, but said it must prove its majority in a floor test within 48 hours.
A bench of chief justice Jagdish Singh Khehar, justices Ranjan Gogoi and RK Agrawal criticized the Congress for not making its case in front of the Goa governor. The Congress Legislature Party leader in the Goa assembly Chandrakant Kavlekar sought Governor Mridula Sinha’s decision to appoint Parrikar as the chief minister be put on hold and his swearing-in be scheduled for Tuesday evening.
Rejecting the plea for a composite floor test between Parrikar and Kavlekar, the bench said: “You (petitioner Kavlekar) don’t put anything on record. You don’t tell anything to the Governor. You don’t file any affidavit in a matter as serious as this. There is nothing on record.”
“You are putting us in the position of Governor. You are telling us everything that you should have told the Governor,” observed the bench as the petitioner’s counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi took the court through the constitutional provisions and conventions. The bench took exception to Kavlekar not making Parrikar party to his plea.
“You know him. He was the defence minister. You don’t even implead him in the matter,” the apex court said while pointing out that “you do everything wrong. You don’t do anything and point finger at the world”.
As the petitioner’s counsel raised some point while chief justice Khehar was passing the order, the CJI said: “You are so
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