Three ministers resigned from the Digambar Kamat ministry late on Wednesday night, pushing his seven-month government to the brink. Two of the three ministers who resigned — Jose Philip D’Souza and Micky Pacheco are from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). The third, Vishwajeet Rane, is an independent.

Vishwajeet Rane, the son of Speaker Pratapsingh Rane, told Deccan Herald that he had not withdrawn support to the Congress-led government. “I will wait and see what happens tomorrow in the House,” he said. NCP member Nilkant Harlankar, who held the position of parliamentary secretary, also resigned his post.

Late Wednesday night, the political situation in Goa remained fluid and cloudy. While D’Souza who heads the three-member NCP legislature group told this newspaper that the NCP was withdrawing support to the government in Goa, Chief Minister Kamat said NCP chief Sharad Pawar had personally assured him that his party’s support to the government in Goa would continue and the issues would be amicably resolved. “My government is stable,” Kamat claimed after a late-night Cabinet meeting.

The Congress with 16 MLAs was in government with the support of 3 NCP members, two Save Goa Front MLAs and one independent. The BJP has 14 members, the MGP 2 and one member remains unattached.

The BJP said here that Kamat should prove his majority in the House on Thursday. The Congress, which went into a huddle at the chief minister's residence after an eventful and tense day in the Assembly, is banking on negotiations between the Central leaders of the two parties to help it tide over the crisis. Both parties are deputing observers here on Thursday.

Kamat remained hopeful that his government could be put back on track. “They have some minor grouses that can be easily sorted out,” he said. The motives of those who resigned remained unclear, he added.

Vishwajeet Rane, who held the health portfolio, said the CM had “ignored rumblings” within his government. “I also brought it to the attention of the high command, but they did nothing about it,” he said.
Rane, who is seen to be instrumental with unattached MLA Babush Monserrate in instigating the latest crisis in the government, claims that there is a 23-member group in the House opposed to the chief minister’s style of functioning.

The young Rane had a few days ago expressed annoyance about the Congress government’s decision to scrap the SEZs in Goa.

An inkling of trouble in the government came earlier in the afternoon when  Congress MLAs Gurudas Gauns and Shyam Satardekar, remained absent from the Assembly on a day of crucial financial bills.

After rumours began to swirl that the NCP MLAs were likely to desert the government during the voting on the Appropriation Bill 2008, Speaker Pratapsingh Rane adjourned the House at the chief minister’s request.