Hariprasad back in Goa for consultations on Babush issue

Panaji, Aug 4 (UNI) In a sudden development, AICC general secretary B.K.Hari Prasad, in charge of Goa desk, rushed back here from New Delhi to initiate second round of consultations with party leaders and legislators on the issue of re-inducting Atanasio (Babush) Monserrate in the state cabinet.

Informed sources said a final decision to effect a cabinet reshuffle, by replacing finance minister Dayanand Narvekar with Babush was likely to be taken tonight.

It was only last evening that he had left Goa for New Delhi after having parleys for two days with party members on the nagging issue, amid threat of destabilisation of the government in the Assembly session, scheduled to begin on August 18.

The sources said the party High command was tough against Narvekar and keen that he should resign from the cabinet, paving way for Babush to honour committment it made to the latter before he extended support to the then minority government of Digambar Kamat in July last year.

Narvekar had reportedly sought time for considering the suggestion of the high command as he was awaiting decision of the High court bench in Panaji, where he challenged the lower court's decision of framing criminal charges against him in the infamous India-Australia ODI cricket ticket scam of 2001.

If everything goes well, chief minister Kamat, along with Hari Prasad, may approach governor Dr.S.S.Sidhu recommending induction of Babush into the cabinet tonight and dropping of Narvekar from the ministry.

The High command was keen that Digambar Kamat ministry should not be disturbed by any forces or groups from within as he had alrezdy survived two coups, engineered by detractor coalition partners since he assumed charge on June 8 last year.

It was only in the afternoon that Chief Minister told mediapersons after a cabinet meeting that he had not yet received any directive or communique from the party high command on the Babush issue. He also maintained that his government continued to be stable as ever even as he had to face the monsoon session of the state legislative assembly, beginning on August 18.

He escaped by the skin of his teeth the destabilisation attempts twice in the earlier sessions, engineered by the coalition partners led by the NCP resulting in cabinet reshuffle later to include MGP as partner in the coalition by giving cabinet berth to Ramakrishna Davlikar.

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