The story goes that a Russian became so livid at the rotten soup cookedby his wife for dinner that he stomped out of his home, and got lost in thenearby woods. He was nearly dead of hunger and frostbite by the time he wasfound a month later. As he reached home, he commented philosophically -"This is the last time I criticise my wife's cooking."
Mickky Pacheco, former Benaulim, now Nuvem MLA, has perhaps been told tolearn lessons from the Russian diplomat. Or use his native intelligence to getback from his political wilderness, (even though he won the elections) bycosying up to a power center, Manohar Parrikar. In return, the Chief Ministerwill be more than a trifle grateful for this support, since stability (which henow has) is a strange bedfellow. It has moods.
So the Manohar Parrikar- Mickky Pacheco political friendship, whichseemed condemned to frostbite with the former making it amply clear tothis writer much before the elections that he would rather not form a governmentthan deal with blackmail, has emerged out of the woods. The reason forPacheco reaching out is not far to seek. He, like the Russian diplomat, learntthis. Never leave home in anger. The soup isn't superb at the neighbour'seither. He learnt this after backstabbing Parrikar earlier. But the wounds thatthe ‘neighbour’, the Congress, inflicted cut deeper. He was dragged politicallyinto the Nadia Torrado suicide case, bundled into jail and stripped off hisministership, by a vortex of enemies, including the man he defeated to win thelast elections, Alexio Sequiera. So while Pacheco’s residence by day is inBetalbatim, he has shifted his political residence to Manohar Parrikar.
This part of the story is not difficult to understand and it manifesteditself at the grand luncheon hosted by Pacheco for Parrikar at the Alila Divaresort in Majorda on June 10, where he also invited panchayat leaders from theNuvem and Benaulim constituencies. It is here that the second part of the storyunfolded visibly. The Chief Minister assured the panchayat leaders, who arePacheco's supporters, of support for development in their respective villages.
Parrikar was hardly being a good guest thanking a generous host. It wasthe real coming of age of Parrikar the politician, who in his second inningshas realised that good administration and long term politics are notsynonymous. Each is a different game played differently on different pitches.
With a brute majority of 21 and with the Dhavlikar brothers and a hostof independents, there is no real calamity in sight. Wisdom lies though insensing a tsunami, by observing the behavior of other creatures of creation,like the Congress. It started efforts to bring down the government even beforeit was sworn in. Currently there are two straws in the wind that the Congresswants to cling to. One, the success of the disqualification petition againstMickky’s own MLA, Caitu Silva, on the grounds of being a Portuguese citizen byvirtue of registering his birth. Notwithstanding the fact that in parts ofSalcette, you could throw a stone and it would land on a Portuguese passport oridentity card holder, Caitu runs a grave risk of being disqualified. This couldopen up more such cases and possibly consume other elected members.
At the same time the sense of fairplay of the Dhavlikar brothers is asgood as that of the village money lender. He takes back much more than hegives. The first price for support has been paid to them in the form ofthe lucrative PWD portfolio, a department that began its innings with acontractor committing suicide for unpaid bills, even after paying a kickback tothe previous regime. In an irony of ironies, Pacheco, with his invaluabletwo MLAs, needs a friendly government to ‘develop’ his area. Pacheco, afterwhat he has gone through needs, to get back more desperately. Hence he is abetter ally now.
The loaves and fishes of office will show up. For instance, Pacheco’sfriend and confidant Lyndon Monteiro, who used to run the tourism departmentwhen Pacheco was the minister, has been allowed to ‘help out’ in the powerdepartment, where the minister is learning the ropes. Future recruitments inthe department, especially in Nuvem and Benaulim, will most surely see ‘Mickky’sboys’ replace Alexio’s boys.
Secondly, Mickky is eyeing the chairmanship of a new corporationto create andmanage tourism infrastructure in the tourism belt, for whichadditional funds, beyond what is marked for tourism will be been allocated. ForMickky, being with Parrikar is just a five year plan. For Parrikar that’s morethan enough. He is a quick learner. In the first decade of 2000 a hypereffective administrator ruled Goa. In the second a seasoned politician will.And this version will last longer.
