GDA plans 'dharna' in New Delhi on Aug 10 to sack Kamat

Panaji, Aug 7 (UNI) Coinciding with the beginning of the Monsoon session of Parliament, the anti-Congress coalition of Goa Democratic Alliance (GDA), backed by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), has decided to stage a massive 'dharna' at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on August 10, seeking dismissal of ''illegal, unconstitutional, minority'' government led by Digambar Kamat in Goa forthwith.

BJP leader Manohar Parrikar told mediapersons here today that all the 20 legislators of the coalition are ''in tact'' and they will participate in the sit-in strike in Delhi in support of its demand.

He said the GDA had approached the Supreme Court as a final resort, after it was exhausted of all other legally valid avenues, including Raj Bhavan and Rashtrapathi Bhavan, to get ''justice''.

''We explored other avenues, including political and Parliament, to expose the shoddy role of the Speaker in conducting the House on July 30 to save Digambar Kamat government by altering the constituents of the Assembly by entertaining the disqualification petitions against the MGP leaders,'' he said.

If the same modus operandi was adopted by the nexus of Governor-Speaker-CM in other states, any minority government would continue to be in power for the full five year term with impunity, Mr Parrikar said.

''It is not about Kamat, Parrikar or Alemao becoming the Chief Minister. The larger issue is the constitutionality of the interim order of the Speaker to alter the constituents of the House to save the minority government in power from falling,'' he said.

The illegality had to be stopped somewhere so that the minority governments are not allowed to rule. The political parties and the society should not keep quiet to remedy the situation, the former chief minister said.

Terming July 30 as the ''black day'' in the history of democracy, Mr Parrikar said the GDA would not rest till the minority, illegal and unconstitutional government goes out.

Censuring the ''shabby and dubious'' role of the Governor in the episode, he also criticised the Speaker for blatantly exhibiting his bias towards the Congress.

Meanwhile, all the GDA legislators are back home and preparing strategies for the August 10 'dharna' in Delhi.

All of them had individually filed special leave petitions in the Supreme Court last week, terming the conduct of the Speaker in the House on July 30 as unconstitutional and against the principles of natural justice.

''We followed the propriety of political logic before approaching the apex court for justice,'' Mr Parrikar added.

UNI