Wednesday, February 2 2005 17:49 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Panaji: The Manohar Parrikar Government in Goa today (Feb 2, 2005) won a vote of confidence in the State Assembly amidst pandemonium, the Speaker Vishwas Satarkar announced.

The Speaker put the Chief Minister's one-line motion seeking the confidence of the House in his council of ministers to vote after Independent MLA Dilip Neri Rodriguez was physically removed.

He asked the MLAs supporting the motion to raise their hands to which the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) MLAs numbering 16 and one UGDP (United Goa democratic Party) lawmaker responded with an "aye".

Satisified that the ruling side had the majority, Satarkar announced that the motion was carried amidst protests from Opposition Congress benches.

Parrikar later claimed victory while the Congress-led Opposition rushed to the Raj Bhawan to petition Governor S C Jamir for immediate dismissals of the Government accusing the Speaker of "acting like a stooge" of the Government.