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Goa opposition MLAs disrupt guv’s speech over Mhadei dispute; Marshalled out
The Opposition MLAs in Goa Assembly stormed the well of the House during the governor’s speech protesting over the government’s failure to adequately address the Mhadei dispute with Karnataka
The Opposition legislators in the Goa Legislative Assembly were marshalled out of the House on Monday after they stormed the well of the House during the governor’s speech protesting over the government’s failure to adequately address the Mhadei dispute with Karnataka.
The four-day winter session of the Goa Legislative Assembly began on Monday with the address by the governor.
The seven Opposition legislators in the 40-member Goa Assembly, dressed in all black, began sloganeering and marched into the well of the House after governor P S Sreedharan Pillai rejected their demand that he address the Mhadei issue during his speech.
They were later escorted out of the house by marshals and the governor continued his speech in the absence of the Opposition members.
Chief minister Pramod Sawant accused the Opposition of politicising the Mhadei issue. “The opposition has behaved in an unbecoming manner during the governor’s speech. I think for the first time the speech of the governor has been interrupted,” Sawant said.
Leader of Opposition, Yuri Alemao said, “We didn’t interrupt the governor and nor did we mean any disrespect. After escorting him to his chair, we requested him to address us on the issue of Mhadei, an issue that concerns all of Goa including the ruling MLAs.”
The governor’s speech had no mention of the ongoing Mhadei dispute with Karnataka that flared up once again after the Union government’s Central Water Commission granted its approval to the Karnataka government for diverting water from the west-flowing Mhadei River to the east-flowing Malaprabha river -- an approval that was granted barely months ahead of the upcoming Karnataka assembly elections.
Speaking on the issue Congress MLA Carlos Alvares Ferreira said that the Goa governor could have safely departed from his prepared speech.
“The BJP in Tamil Nadu is praising the governor for departing from the speech submitted to him by the government. In Goa the governor has toured the state and is very well aware of the problems faced in the villages. You cannot have a double standard where you praise the governor in Tamil Nadu and accuse us of disrespecting him here,” Ferreira said.
Members of the Opposition including the Congress, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Goa Forward Party have jointly taken on the government for its ‘failing double engine’.
“If it is a double engine government, why can’t it work for Goa? Why is the chief minister saying we will argue our case before the court? Argue our case before the Union ministry and get them to decide it in our favour,” AAP MLA Venzy Viegas said.
