Panaji, June 7 :
Luizinho Faleiro will be Goa?s next chief minister. Announcing this here, CWC member Manmohan Singh and AICC general secretary Madhavrao Scindia said the swearing-in would take place after a few ?technicalities?, including the revoking of President?s rule in the state, were ironed out.
Scindia, who is party in-charge of Goa, said Faleiro?s name was proposed by former chief minister Pratapsingh Rane and seconded by Ravi Naik and Churchill Alemao. Faleiro had taken over as chief minister for a brief period last year. Both Naik and Alemao are also former chief ministers.
There were rumours, however, that Naik had walked out of the party meeting and that eight legislators were backing him.
Asked what factors had been taken into account to decide on the chief minister, the party high command?s representatives said the ?opinion of MLAs? was the only criterion. Faleiro said he would call on Goa Governor J.F.R. Jacob tonight to stake his claim to form government. He added that he would consult Sonia Gandhi while forming the new Cabinet.
Faleiro said all promises in the party manifesto, including declaration of assets by elected MLAs, would be met. Faleiro will step down as president of the Goa Pradesh Congress Committee in due course following his election as the leader of the Congress Legislature Party, Scindia said.
He stressed that the poll verdict was a ?very clear indication that people are fed up with instability in politics? both in Goa and the country. He, however, said any party with a secular ideology and no fundamental differences with his party was free to strengthen the Congress.





