New Delhi: It's official, Digambar Kamat will become the new Chief Minister of Goa. Kamat's name came as a compromise candidate after the Congress legislature party (CLP) failed to decide between the outgoing Chief Minister Pratap Singh Rane and state Congress party president Ravi Naik.
Kamat was the power minister in the previous government. The Congress, with 16 seats, has the support of two independent MLAs – Rane's son Vishwajeet and Anil Salgoacar – and two legislators of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP).
The MGP had insisted that Rane should continue as chief minister.
AICC observers Sushil Kumar Shinde and Margaret Alva held nearly four hours of talks with the party MLAs during the day and later in the evening.
The Union Power Minister had a meeting with Chief Minister Pratap Singh Rane, who is one of the prime contenders for the top post along with state party chief Ravi Naik.
After the marathon exercise of eliciting opinions of the legislators, a crucial meeting of CLP was held late tonight to decide the leadership issue.
Earlier, Shinde, Alva and other Congress leaders elicited the views of individual MLAs separately at a hotel here. But a peeved Rane was not present during the exercise.
After the meeting, Shinde drove to the official residence of the Chief Minister and met him. Rane's son, Vishwajeet, an independent MLA, who has extended support to the alliance, was also present.
Congress sources said "sharp differences" came to the fore with a section of the MLAs backing Naik while some other legislators, including the two-member Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party, another coalition partner, wanting Rane to continue.
NCP observer in Goa Gurunath Kulkarni said coalition leaders are likely to meet the Governor tomorrow to formally stake a claim to form the next government.
(With agency inputs)
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