Thank Gadkari for 'aggressive MLA buying': Digvijaya Singh hits back at Parrikar for 'thanking him' for Goa

The war of words between newly-appointed Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar and Congress leader Digvijaya Singh does not seem to end anytime soon. A day after Parrikar trained his guns at Singh and "thanked" him for failing to cobble together a majority in Goa despite the Congress party winning the maximum number of assembly seats, the latter on Saturday called the former "hungry for power" and sought an apology from him for having cheated the people of Goa.

"Shame on you Mr Parrikar and your hunger for Power. You have cheated the People of Goa. Apologise to them," Singh said on Twitter.

Singh said Parrikar should instead thank Nitin Gadkari for doing "aggressive MLA buying". "Manohar Parrikar thanks me for letting him form Govt in Goa. If he has to thank anyone, it is Nitin Gadkari who did aggressive MLA shopping on 12th March early morning from an hotel in Goa.

"And the Goa Governor who violated the Constitution, Sarkaria Commission guideline and the Supreme Court...and robbed the mandate of people of Goa," he said in a series of tweets.

Parrikar came to the Rajya Sabha during the Zero Hour and thanked the chairman, Deputy Chairman, and other members. "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 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. Digvijaya Singh has given notice for a substantive motion to discuss in the house the conduct of Goa Governor Mridula Sinha, which is now pending for two weeks. Outside the house, Parrikar said there was no question of immorality in the way the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) formed the government in Goa with the help of smaller parties and Independents.

"Other parties supported us as they didn't trust the Congress...It's a coalition government and there is no question of morality of immorality in it," Parrikar said.Digvijaya, who was in-charge of the Congress affairs in Goa, had earlier said the constitutional norms were not followed by Governor Mridula Sinha, adding that the Congress despite being the single largest party was not invited to form the government in the state.

"The procedure is that the single largest party is always called. So, the Governor should have adopted this process. The Governor has to act under the Constitution as per the established conventions," Singh told the media.

Earlier on March 16, former defence minister Parrikar established victory in the Goa Assembly as 22 MLAs stood in his support. 16 MLAs opposed Parrikar's candidature as the Chief Minister, while one MLA was absent.

The Supreme Court had ordered a floor test as the Congress challenged his appointment, citing that the Goa Governor did not follow the procedure as dictated by the Constitution. Despite the BJP ending up second behind the Congress in a split mandate, Parrikar had claimed the support of 22 legislators, two more than the half-way mark in the 40-member Assembly.

The Congress won 17 seats but was not able to prove majority.