News -- Goa: Assembly Adjourned amidst Uproar over Opposition's Lack of Confidence in Speaker
http://www.daijiworld.com/news/news_disp.asp?n_id=13790&n_tit=Goa%3A+Assembly+Adjourned+amidst+Uproar+over+Opposition's+Lack+of+Confidence+in+Speaker Panaji, Aug 18: The state legislative assembly had to be adjourned as it witnessed a ruckus on Thursday when opposition members led by leader of opposition Manohar Parrikar questioned the impartiality of the speaker. The opposition benches expressed their lack of confidence in speaker Francisco Sardinha, accusing him of being partial, leading to the house being adjourned for an hour. Oppostion benches raised objection to Sardinha�s notifying a vacancy for the Cortalim assembly seat to the Election Commision, saying in a similar situation, a vacancy for the Velim seat - whose MLA Filipe Neri Rodrigues was disqualified � was not notified to the EC. �We want justice from Speaker, we don�t have confidence in the chair. The Speaker�s neutrality is under doubt. Until we get an explanation for his action, we will not allow the house to function,� Leader of Opposition Manohar Parrikar said as soon as the house convened for the day. Sardinha had disqualified Cortalim MLA Mathany Saldanha on grounds of disobeying his party whip on August 8 and had notified the EC of the vacancy the next day. The election commission declared Bypolls to the seat on Wednesday. Saldanha, who was Tourism minister in the erstwhile Parrikar government, belongs to the United Goans Democratic party. However his party was part of the Congress led United Legislative Alliance which formed the current government. After the fall of the parrikar government however Saldanha had made it clear that he would keep equidistance from both parties. On the other hand, Velim MLA Rodirgues was disqualified in February by then Speaker Vishwas Satarkar, but his successor Sardinha withdrew the vacancy notice to the EC on the grounds that Rodrigues had appealed against the decision in a court of law. (with inputs from PTI) Gabe -- Cheers, Gabe Menezes. London, England