No instructions from high command on cabinet reshuffle: CM

Panaji, Aug 4 (UNI) Chief minister Digambar Kamat today said he has not yet received any ''instruction'' from the Congress high command, advising him about the much talked-about cabinet reshuffle.

''I have not received any instruction regarding re-induction of Taleigao legislator Atanasio(Babush) Monserrate by removing finance minister Dayanand Narvekar,'' he told mediapersons here.

A confident chief minister said his government continued to be very much stable. ''Do I look unsteady now or before even in toughest times?'', he quipped.

He, however, admitted that AICC general secretary B.K.Hariprasad, in charge of Goa desk, had called on him last week regarding the issue but nothing had been finalised. He will act on the instruction of the high command though the cabinet reshuffle was his prerogative.

It might be recalled that Mr Hariprasad had intensive consultations with the party leaders including Chief Minister and GPCC president after Narvekar reportedly turned down his request to resign from the cabinet, paving for re-induction of Babush.

Narvekar was asked to quit as he was facing criminal charges in India-Australia ODI cricket ticket scam of 2001. He was now recuperating after a knee surgery.

Babush, who was also facing criminal charges in cases related to assaulting youth congress workers and attacking Panjim police station, was reportedly promised by the high command of a cabinet berth for extending support to the then minority government led by Kamat in July last year.

Mr Hariprasad left for New Delhi last evening to convey the feelings of the legislators and MPs to the party high command for taking a final decision on the cabinet reshuffle.

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