In a ripple effect stemming from developments in Karnataka, a 14-member Congress delegation on Friday met Goa Governor Mridula Sinha and handed over their memorandum as the single largest party in the state.
The Congress Legislative Party, led by Chandrakant Kavlekar, met Sinha at Raj Bhavan on Friday noon and sought an invitation to prove its majority on the floor of the Goa Assembly.
The party said it gave the governor seven days to decide on its request.
Fourteen of the 16 Congress legislators were present during the meeting with the governor as one of them is out of the country, while another one is hospitalised. The meeting lasted for about 15 minutes.
"We requested the governor to follow the precedent of Karnataka and undo the mistake she had committed on March 12, 2017, when she invited the minority party (BJP) to form the government, we have given a time of seven days to revert to us on our request," PTI quoted Goa Congress minister Chandrakant Kavlekar.
In the Assembly elections held in February last year, the Congress had bagged 17 seats in the 40-member House but fallen short of the majority figure by four seats.
Seeking an adaption of the Karnataka example in Bihar, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and other alliance parties-Congress and CPI(ML) have also handed over letters to Bihar Governor Satyapal Malik stating that RJD is the single largest party hence should be invited to form Government.
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RJD'S Tejashwi Yadav along with other alliance leaders met Malik on Friday afternoon to stake claim to form the government in Bihar.
"If we are given a chance, we can easily clear the floor test. We have a total of 111 MLAs and some unhappy JD(U) MLAs are in contact with us. We don't have MLAs in our party or alliance who will take u-turn like Nitish Kumar," Yadav told reporters.
The RJD was relegated to the opposition in Bihar last year after the JD(U) walked away from the three-party alliance, which also involved the Congress, and joined hands with the BJP to form a new government under Nitish Kumar.
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Nine leaders of Congress Legislature Party (CLP), led by the Opposition Leader in Manipur Assembly and former chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh, too met acting Governor Jagdish Mukhi on Friday noon and staked claim to form the government in the state.
The Congress had bagged 28 seats in the 60-member House in the 2017 Assembly polls and emerged as the single-largest party.
The BJP secured 21 seats and joined hands with regional parties and Governor Najma Heptulla had invited the coalition to form the government.
The BJP, which emerged as the single largest party with 104 seats in the Karnataka Assembly, was invited by the governor to form the government despite the JD(S)-Congress combine staking a claim by citing the support of 117 MLAs. The Congress won 78 seats and the JD-S 37.
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The majority mark in Karnataka Assembly is 112 seats. Earlier, on May 12, elections were held for 222 of the 224 Assembly seats across Karnataka.
(With inputs from agencies)
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