Congress favoures early meeting of coordination committee

Panaji, Aug 14 (UNI) The Congress in Goa favoured a meeting of the coordination committee of the coalition patners at the earliest to redress their grievances.

Interacting with mediapersons here today, GPCC president Francisco Sardinha, MP, justified its coalition partner NCP's demand for such an early meeting. He said he had already requested Chief Minister Digambar Kamat to convene the meeting.

He made this sugtestion to Mr Kamat amid protest of the NCP's legislature party and the executive that the government failed to accommodate the party leaders into the government, including in corporations, and that it was ignoring the coalition partner.

The NCP, it might be recalled, had threatened to ''reconsider'' its relations with the Congress if the latter continued to maintain its recalcitrant attitude to ignore the NCP cadres.

Asked whether the government would consider reinducting Dayanand Narvekar, who was given reprieve by the Bombay High court in Goa, staying operation of the criminal charges framed against him by a lower court in the infamous cricket ticket scam, he said it was left to the party high command.

Sardinha, however, justified inducting Atanasio (Babuish) Monserrate into the cabinet on August 5 as education minister following forced resignation of Narvekar as the former had extended his crucial support to the then minority government in July last year.

He, however, admitted that removal of a senior leader like Narvekar from the Cabinet had sent wrong signals among the party cadres. The high command might have done in its own wisdom for another reason to keep its promises to Babush for extending support to the coalition government as an unattached legislator.

Sardinha hastened to add that the government was stable and continued to be stable despite threats here and there, ahead of the monsoon session of the state legislative assembly, beginning on August 18.

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