(With inputs from agencies)

PANAJI: Congress MLAs in a letter to the Goa governor , on Monday, demanded that the present government be dismissed and the Congress party, being the single largest party, be invited to form the government in the state.Leader of opposition and Congress legislative party leader Babu Kavlekar, who presented the memorandum signed by all 16 MLAs to the secretary to the governor, also demanded that any recommendation for dissolution of the Goa legislative assembly not be accepted.Kavlekar said that Congress members would meet the governor on her return to Goa on Tuesday. He added that Goa is in a state of emergency created by the ruling coalition due to the Parrikar's adamant insistence of not stepping down and providing a viable alternative.Parrikar, 62, who is suffering from a pancreatic ailment, is currently admitted in the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi for treatment.The Congress has 16 members in the 40-member state assembly. The BJP has 14 seats and its allies Goa Forward Party and MGP have three each. Three Independents and an MLA from Nationalist Congress Party also support the BJP."We have staked our claim to form the government because we have every right to stake claim. We were the single largest party, we are the single largest party and will continue to be. In fact, we have been robbed of the mandate that the people of Goa gave us. With the help of the constitutional head, the mandate was given to the people who were defeated," Navelim MLA Luizinho Faleiro told reporters after submitting the memorandum."The government is not functioning. There is no governance. Ministers are not in the state and neither is the governor. There is a total vacuum in the state. The government should be thrown out lock, stock and barrel," Faleiro added."We are ready to form the government but we should be given a chance," Kavlekar said.