Goa's Independent MLA withdraws govt support over CMs remarks
Goas Independent MLA PrasadGaonkar on Wednesday withdrew his support from the PramodSawant-led BJP government in the state in the wake of chiefministers allegations against him of being involved in landdeals.
Gaonkar, who represents Sanguem Assembly constituency,submitted a letter about withdrawal of support to the stategovernor.
With this, the number of ruling camp MLAs in the 40-member state Assembly has come down to 29 from 30. Of them, 27are from the BJP, while two others are- NCPs Churchill Alemaoand Independent legislator Govind Gaude.
The opposition now has 11 MLAs, including five fromCongress, three of the Goa Forward Party (GFP) and twoIndependents- Gaonkar and Rohan Khaunte- and one from theMaharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP).
“I have submitted the letter to the governor,informing him about my withdrawal of support from PramodSawant led government,” Gaonkar told reporters.
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant had on Monday accusedGaonkar of indulging in land deals for the proposed IITproject in the state.
Sawant had said that Gaonkar was striking deals in thename of acquiring land for IIT project at Sanguem.
The project, which was initially supposed to come upat Sanguem, was shifted to Sattari after the government failedto get the land.
Reacting to the accusations, Gaonkar said that he was”shocked” over Sawants statement.
“Let him prove the accusations against me. I wasshocked the way he made the statement against me,” he said.
Gaonkar said he has lost faith in Pramod Sawant as aCM, due to which he was withdrawing his support.
The MLA said that he would exposed the BJP-ledgovernment and its failure in the coming days.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Federal staff and is auto-published from a syndicated feed.)