Satarkar is new Goa speaker

With the opposition parties led by the Congress party deciding not to field a candidate of their own, the Bharatiya Janata Party's Vishwas Satarkar was unanimously elected as the new speaker of the Goa legislative assembly on the first day of its session yesterday.

Satarkar, a former student leader, was the only one to file his nomination. A student leader in the late 80s and early 90s, Satarkar – a lawyer by profession – was associated with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, the students' wing of the BJP over a considerable period of time.

Later in the afternoon, Dr Wilfred de Souza of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) administered the oath of office to all elected members of the legislative assembly. Governor Mohammed Fazal is scheduled to address the house today.

Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, who holds the finance portfolio, is scheduled to present the budget before the House tomorrow after which a vote on account will be sought for the period ending August.

Meanwhile, the Maharashtra-wadi Gomantak Party (MGP), Goa's oldest post-liberation party, is in shambles following its dismal showing at the recently concluded elections. Though having fielded 25 candidates for the 40 seats on offer, the MGP managed to win just two, thus showing the downward slide of the party in recent years.

The MGP leadership, led by former chief minister Shasikala Kakodkar, has not taken this as a good omen and has promised to rectify the situation by working at the grass roots level. But the rank and file of the MGP is not convinced.

They want a change, starting with the ouster of Kakodkar, who is the daughter of first chief minister Dayanand Bandodkar.

But Kakodkar has gone a step further and served show cause notices to six senior MGP partymen for "anti-party activities during the May 30 polls". Among these six are two members of the central committee.