Sunday, February 27 2005 14:04 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Panaji: With Pratapsingh Rane led Congress Government in Goa to take up confidence vote tomorrow (Feb 28, 2005), former Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar today (Feb 27, 2005) said he was considering moving a resolution asking for an assurance from Governor S C Jamir that he would accept the decision of the house.

"I would first of all like to have an assurance that the Governor will accept the decision of the house, whatever the result might be. Last time he disregarded the fact that I enjoy the majority of the house and dismissed my Government. What is the guarantee that he will not do it again? if he has no faith in the Assembly he should not have asked Rane for a floor test," Parrikar said in Panaji.

"Last time the house reposed its confidence in me, so there is also a question of whether the speaker will recognise Rane as leader of the house. I may move a resolution to that effect as well," he said adding, legalities dictated that the leader of the house was the one who enjoyed the confidence of the house.

When asked what the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) strategy would be if Rane lost the vote of confidence, Parrikar said, "I will immediately stake my claim to the Governor, stating that I enjoy the confidence of the house and saying that since he had dismissed my Government last time, he should call me back."

The BJP also filed a disqualification petition against its MLA Digamber Kamat, who submitted his resignation on Thursday (Feb 24, 2005), stating that he had violated the rule under article 168, which says that a legislator is liable for disqualification if he resigns after the summons for a Assembly session have been issued.

Parrikar claimed that a lot of Congress MLA's were "restless" and wanted to move out, saying, "The Congress will discover that they are short by a large number in the end."