Congress stages silent protest in Panaji

Various wings of the Congress in Goa on Saturday held a silent protest at state capital's Azad maidan, accusing the BJP-led government of murdering democracy by engineering a split in the state party and inducting 10 MLAs into the ruling party.

Speaking to reporters, Goa Mahila Congress president Pratima Couthino said the aim of the protest was to make the people of Goa realise how democratic processes had been manipulated by the BJP to stay in power.

"The people of Goa should know how the BJP is demolishing the Opposition and destroying democracy just to stay in power," Coutinho said, on a day when three of the 10 Congress defectors were sworn in as ministers in Chief Minister Pramod Sawant cabinet.

Leader of Opposition Chandrakant Kavlekar, who led the Congress rebellion on Wednesday, would be appointed Deputy Chief Minister. IANS