BJP national president Amit Shah may have sounded confident that his party will form government in Goa but how close is the BJP realistically to government formation in the coastal state?
In the 40-member assembly, BJP managed to win only 13 seats. On the other hand, Congress bagged 17 seats. Any party hoping to form government in Goa has to reach the magic figure of 21. Both parties are falling short of that number on its own. MGP, former ally of BJP, has won three seats.
Vijay Sardesai's Goa Forward party has won three seats while NCP has won one. Congressis hopeful that this block of four legislators will support Congress thereby helping the party to form the government as all of them are part of same ideological umbrella. AICC general secretary in charge of Goa, Digvijay Singh, has already said that Congress will form government with like minded parties.
In such a scenario the role of Governor of the state , Mridula Sinha, assumes significance. The Governor may feel inclined to invite leader of the single largest party, Congress in this case, for consultation on government formation as BJP's alliance with MGP was called off before elections and hence they can not be treated as one unit even if MGP now wants to join hands again.
Repeated attempts to reach Louizinho Faleiro, Goa Congress president and Vijay Sardesai of Goa Forward for their comments party proved futile as neither of them responded to telephone calls.
The most important question here is whether the BJP, whose seven out of nine ministers, including chief minister Parsekar, have lost the election, should really make an attempt to form the government or accept the verdict that it has been voted out of power.
