New Delhi, Apr 29: The Congress has removed Digvijaya Singh as the party in charge of Goa and Karnataka. A Chella Kumar has now been given charge of Goa while KC Venugopal has been appointed in charge of Karnataka.
The move comes after the Goa fiasco where Congress failed to form government and ahead of assembly elections in Karnataka to be held in 2018.
Digvijaya had come in for a lot of criticism after the Congress failed to form the government in Goa, despite the party emerging as the single largest party in the assembly elections.
On March 18, Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) chief Luizinho Faleiro obliquely blamed AICC general secretary Digvijaya Singh and Goa screening committee chief KC Venugopal for the party's inability to form a government in the state.
Refuting reports that a tussle within Goa Congress leaders for the post of CM led to a delay in government formation, Faleiro asserted that Congress had the support of 21 MLAs needed to form the government. He said it was Digvijaya Singh who suggested that Congress should wait till Goa governor Mridula Sinha invited it to form the government. "As per procedure, I had a letter drafted for the governor to inform her that we would be staking claim to form the government, but I was told by Singh that as per convention, the governor would call us. So we waited," Faleiro said.
Digvijay Singh had, on March 13, accused BJP for wooing smaller parties and independents to form the government and keep the Congress, the single largest party, away from power in Goa.
"Money power has won over people's power. I apologise to the people of Goa as we couldn't muster the support to form the government," Singh had tweeted.
He had said that the Congress' struggle against communal forces and money power politics in Goa shall, however, continue.
The Congress emerged as the single largest party with 17 seats, not enough to form the government and the BJP with 13 cobbled up an alliance with smaller parties and independents to cross the half-way mark of 21 seats.
Goa Governor Mridula Sinha has asked Parrikar to prove majority on the floor of the Goa Legislative Assembly 15 days after administration of oath.
Soon after taking the charge of Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar thanked Digvijaya Singh for failing to cobble together a majority in the state despite the party winning the largest number of assembly seats.
"I express my thanks to the chairman, deputy chairman and members of this house for their support during my tenure as Raksha Mantri (Defence Minister), and invite them to Goa whenever they want to come," Parrikar had said.
"My special thanks to honourable member Digvijaya Singh, who happened to be in Goa but did nothing so that I could form the government," he said.
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