Former Goa Congress Chief Minister Luizinho Faleiro has blamed Digvijaya Singh for not being able to form the government in 2017. The Congress had emerged the single largest party by winning 17 out of 40 seats in the last assembly election held two years ago. However, the BJP despite having just 13 seats acted swiftly and formed the government with the help of some independent and Congress legislators who jumped the ship.
Congress MLA Faleiro has squarely pinned the blame on Digvijaya Singh, saying that the leader did not allow him to hand over the letter to the Governor to stake claim to form the government.
Speaking in his constituency in Navelim, the former Congress CM said: “That night when the general secretary Digvijaya Singh did not allow me to hand over the letter to the Governor for the formation of the Congress government…I in a protest resigned from the PCC (Pradesh Congress Committee) and asked them to accept my earlier resignation as PCC president. I also refused to be the leader of the CLP (Congress Legislative Party), leader of the opposition.”
Faleiro further said that “they (the Congress leadership) will form the government within 24 hours. Now 24 months have passed, but I still have the patience for our party to form the government”. He said that chose to resign after the BJP staked claim to form the government despite not having the numbers.
The Congress was the single largest party in the state but it could not act in time leaving room for manoeuvring by the BJP which formed the government under Manohar Parrikar. The Congress top leadership was dismayed at the way things happened in the presence of its then General Secretary Digvijaya Singh.
However, the senior Congress leader blamed his own party members for the fiasco. Singh said that his proposal for a pre-poll alliance with Goa Forward Party was sabotaged by his own party leaders and if it had gone through, the Congress would have got a majority in the state.