Panaji, Dec 22 (IANS) Ten Congress legislators, including four ministers, Wednesday threatened to pull down the Congress-led alliance government in Goa over the proposed induction of controversial Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Francisco alias Mickky Pacheco into the state cabinet.
Spokesperson for the dissident group, state Public Works Department Minister Churchill Alemao said at a press conference, that they would topple the government, if the proposed induction of Pacheco — a sworn political rival of Churchill Alemao — into the cabinet, was cleared by the Congress high command.
‘We will topple the government if Mickky is inducted in cabinet. He is criminally tainted. He is accused of murdering a woman and has an international case against him,’ Alemao said.
Pacheco is suspected of illegal trafficking and money laundering by the US government’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security.
Goa’s coalition comprises of 12 ministers, nine from the Congress, two from the NCP and one from a regional party.
The current political crisis was precipitated after the NCP high command earlier this week directed two NCP ministers – Jose Phillip D’Souza and Nilkanth Halarnkar – to resign and re-induct Pacheco as a minister in the cabinet in turn.
The move to induct Pacheco, who has a string of criminal cases against him ranging from culpable homicide, bigamy, assault and extortion, has raised the hackles of the politically powerful Alemao, who along with his brother Joaquim (also a cabinet minister), started currying support of other Congressmen to oppose the move.
Pacheco was formerly a tourism minister in the Digambar Kamat-led government, before he was forced to resign, after being accused of the culpable homicide of his alleged lover Nadia Torrado.
‘If Mickky joins the Congress we will topple the government and go to the polls. We will not tolerate the dropping of the two ministers for inducting Mickky,’ Alemao said, asking the high command to intervene in the issue.
The 40-member legislative assembly has 20 legislators from the Congress, BJP (14), NCP (3), MGP (2) and one independent.
