Hung verdicts in Goa, Manipur

With Goa and Manipur throwing hung Assemblies, senior Congress and BJP leaders will now burn the midnight oil to woo smaller parties and independents to their side.

The Congress has emerged as the single largest party in both the states, but the BJP is not leaving any stone unturned in looking at the options to form the governments.

Governors Mridula Sinha (Goa) and Najma Heptullah (Manipur) will have to tread a cautious path amid claims and counter claims before taking a decision on whom to invite first. These are the two states that returned a fractured mandate while Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand (both BJP) and Punjab (Congress) gave resounding victories to the parties.

In Goa, the Congress has won 17 seats in closely fought multi-cornered battle and appears to have a clear edge. The ruling BJP has won only 13 seats in a House of 40 while the Goa Forward, Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) and independents have won three seats each. NCP’s Churchill Alemao is a winner in one.

Though the BJP has suffered a blow with even its Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar losing, BJP president Amit Shah said in Delhi that they will make all efforts to form a government in Goa as well as in Manipur. However, the numbers appear to be in favour of the Congress, which needs just four to cross the magic figure of 21. Congress sources said they are in the process of taking letters of support from the independents as well as initiating negotiations with the Goa Forward and the NCP.

AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh is spearheading the government formation operations and is in touch with MLAs of other parties. BJP sources on the other hand said both Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari were in touch with leaders of the MGP and the Goa Forward. MGP senior leader Sudin Dhavalikar said that the mandate was against the BJP government but refused to commit support to any party.

The ruling Congress managed to emerge the single largest party in Manipur with 28 seats but the BJP has created history of sorts by winning 21 compared to zero in the last Assembly. Though the Congress needs just three seats to claim majority in an Assembly of 60, it may not be that easy as the BJP could be still in the game.