Goa Chief Minister Digambar Kamat did not spring any surprise while finalising his Cabinet even though he took 17 days to do so.
Only woman in Goa assembly protests non-inclusion
GOA: Goa Chief Minister Digambar Kamat did not spring any surprise while finalising his Cabinet even though he took 17 days to do so.
Among the eight members included was Vishwajit Rane, son of former CM Pratapsingh Rane.
But Kamat’s announcement was marred by a day-long hunger strike by Victoria Fernandes, the only woman in the 40-member Goa legislative Assembly. She was protesting against her non-inclusion in the Cabinet. Among the eight were five ministers from the outgoing Rane cabinet — Dayanand Narvekar, Filipe Neri Rodrigues, Pandurang Madkaikar, Manohar Azgaonkar, Joaquim Alemao apart from Francisco "Micky" Pacheco. The new faces were Vishwajit and Loutolim MLA Alexio Sequeira.
From the cheers that Vishwajit received, it was clear that will be an important person in the Kamat government although the CM said that he would announce the portfolios later on Monday or Tuesday.
The CM was on the backfoot when asked why he had included Vishwajit while ignoring Victoria. “The list was finalized by the High Command,” Kamat said at first. “I met her yesterday and explained that I could only accommodate so many people. I have offered her the post of Parliamentary Secretary which will involve her working closely with me," Kamat told reporters after the swearing in.
But Kamat’s hope that Victoria will understand was belied by her dharna near the Ferry point in the capital where ministers Alexio and Ravi Naik visited her. “I was deputy speaker during the Rane government. Accepting Parliamentary secretary will be a demotion,” Victoria said adding that she had been kept out by the forces that were behind the Regional Plan 2011 which she claimed to have thwarted.
Mahila Congress chief Monica Dias backed Victoria’s claim that Congress President Sonia Gandhi had promised her the post of a minister. Victoria appealed to all women in Goa to back her claim.
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