Manohar Parrikar has won the trust vote and will continue as Goa Chief Minister.
Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today won a trust vote in the Goa assembly, with 22 legislators voting for him. The Chief Minister needed 21 votes to prove that he has a majority in the 40-member Goa assembly. Only 16 of the Congress' 17 legislators voted, with senior leader Viswajeet Rane absent from the House at the time of the trust vote. He later resigned from the Congress attacking the leadership for failing to form government after the party won the most seats.
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"We had 23 MLAs with us, all stood by us. 22 voted in our favour, the Speaker, who is from our party could of course not vote," said Mr Parrikar, now confirmed as Goa's new Chief Minister.
Mr Rane, who was a frontrunner for Chief Minister if the Congress formed government, has been upset with senior party leader in charge of Goa Digvijaya Singh for failing to clinch the support of smaller parties after election results were announced on Saturday last. Mr Rane was missing from the Goa trust vote.
The Congress is Goa's single largest party with 17 seats but was slow in moving to secure the support of four more legislators that it needed for a majority. The BJP quickly tied up its alliance and staked claim to form government.
The BJP has won 13 seats and has built a coalition that includes three legislators each from regional parties Goa Forward and the MGP and two Independent legislators.
Mr Parrikar ensured the continued support of his new allies by generously handing them cabinet posts. Of Mr Parrikar's eight new minsters, only two are from the BJP.
Just ahead of the Goa trust vote, Vijai Sardesai, leader of Goa Forward told NDTV that the Congress had been "trying to reach out through friends." Mr Sardesai said his party would "not backstab" Mr Parrikar who "resigned as Defence Minister to come here."
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi and other party leaders have accused the BJP of using money power in Goa and Manipur, both states where it has managed to form government with the support of regional parties despite winning fewer seats than the Congress.
Manohar Parrikar resigned as the country's Defence Minister earlier this week to take over as Goa Chief Minister, a condition laid by the BJP's new allies for their support. He will now have to seek election from an assembly seat within six months, from a seat that a sitting MLA from the BJP will vacate.
Armed with letters of support from his new allies, Mr Parrikar had staked claim to form government a day after election results were announced and was invited to form government by Governor Mridula Sinha, who asked him to prove he had majority support within 15 days.
The Congress moved Supreme Court against the Governor's move to invite the BJP and the top court rejected the plea to stop his oath ceremony on Tuesday, but said Mr Parrikar must seek a trust vote to prove majority within 48 hours.
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