Goa BJP legislators seek governor's removal

A group of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislators from Goa met President Pratibha Patil on Monday and gave her a memorandum seeking removal of Governor SC Jamir.

"We met the president and gave her a memorandum that has the signatures of two lakh (200,000) voters of Goa, demanding action and the sacking of Governor SC Jamir," BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy told reporters. Rudy accompanied the legislators to the meeting with President Patil.

Jamir, a former Congress chief minister of Nagaland, has been accused of favouring the Congress-led government of Digambar Kamat. The Nationalist Congress Party is a part of Kamat's coalition government.

"The governor is acting as an agent of the Congress party. His activities of the last few months have weaned away the faith of MLAs (legislators) in him," he said. Rudy termed Jamir's actions unconstitutional and partisan.

"Jamir has misused the state treasury. The state budget was passed through an ordinance, which is unprecedented in India," Rudy said.

The BJP has obtained information under the Right to Information Act, 2005 to prove its point, he said.

"The governor prorogued the assembly session on January 16, 2008. A budget of Rs 300 crore (Rs 3 billion) was passed through an ordinance while the financial bill was under discussion," Rudy said.

The BJP leaders said President Patil heard their plea and they were hopeful that the outcome would be in their favour.