Congress in Goa

Earlier, BJP leader Ram Lal said the Goa government is stable and no demand has been made for a change in the leadership. He stated this after a meeting with party MLAs, former legislators and core committee members.

He said the BJP’s alliance partners — the Goa Forward Party (GFP), the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) and Independents — conveyed that they will agree to any political decision taken by the saffron party.

Earlier too, the Congress had staked claim on May 18, 2018 to form the government in Goa, citing the example of Karnataka where the largest party BJP was invited to form the government after the Assembly polls threw up a fractured verdict.

The Congress had said that it had not been invited to form the government in Goa after the Assembly polls in March last year despite it emerging as the largest single party.

The party had also met Governor on September 7, 2018 urging her to intervene as State Administration was suffering due to sickness of the Chief Minister.

The diocese release said the Bishop expressed his desire to step aside in the background of what it claimed was the Kerala High Court’s “opinion in favour of Bishop Franco which says, there is lack of adequate evidence for the Bishop’s arrest indicating his innocence”.

“He decided on his own to make his request to Holy Father. He is confident that his request will be accepted by the Vatican,” the release said.

The bishop had last week handed over administrative responsibility of Jalandhar diocese to Msgr Mathew Kokkandam in his absence ahead of his Kerala visit. The decision to summon the clergyman was taken last week after a meeting chaired by Vijay Sakhare, Inspector General (Ernakulam range), amid mounting pressure on police to initiate action against Mulakkal.

Kottayam District Superintendent of Police Hari Sankar said in Kottayam that the Punjab Police has informed the SIT that the Bishop would appear before them on September 19. The Jalandhar diocese spokesman, however, refused to disclose the details of the Bishop’s Kerala travel plan.

Meanwhile, the protest by various Catholic reformation organisations and a group of nuns seeking arrest of the Bishop entered the 10th day Monday.