'Technical issues' delaying appointment of new Leader of Opposition in Goa Assembly: Speaker

PANAJI: Speaker of the Goa Legislative Assembly, Ramesh Tawadkar, on Friday said that a new Leader of Opposition in the House could not be appointed yet due to some 'technical issues'.

On Sunday, the Congress had removed Michael Lobo from the post of leader of opposition in the 40-member assembly, accusing him and former chief minister Digambar Kamat of "conspiring and hobnobbing" with the ruling BJP to engineer a split in the grand old party's legislative wing.

However, Lobo continues to occupy the post.

Lobo, Kamat and three other Congress MLAs, who had gone "incommunicado" as per the party's claim on Sunday, started attending the monsoon session of the state assembly that began Monday morning.

They claimed that there was "nothing wrong" in the opposition party.

Talking to media persons on the premises of the Assembly complex here, Tawadkar said, "There are some technical issues, which they (Congress) have discussed with me. That is the reason why the new leader of opposition could not be appointed." However, he did not elaborate on it.

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Goa Pradesh Congress Committee President Amit Patkar had given a letter to the speaker informing him that Lobo has been removed from the post.

However, the Congress Legislature Party is yet to announce its new leader.

When contacted, Deputy Leader of Opposition Sankalp Amonkar said that it is for the party high command to decide on the new leader of opposition.

The decision on the new face for the post would be taken shortly, he added.

The monsoon session of the state assembly will continue till next Friday.