Sensing a downward trajectory of the second wave, the Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress have begun setting up their houses in order and warming up to the forthcoming elections. If AICC in charge of Goa desk Dinesh Rao held a virtual meeting with the state coordination committee on Wednesday, the BJP national General Secretary B L Santosh and party's Goa desk in-charge CT Ravi descended on the State and held a one-on-one meeting with party leaders and legislators.
With eight months for the State assembly elections, the approach between both the political players was a picture of sharp contrast. Rao threw subtle hints of a major revamp and gave broad indications that the party may go for a GPCC leadership change. He disclosed plans of a likely visit to the State to review the party organization next week. The lethargy with which the Congress is approaching the elections, against the backdrop of other political outfits making swift moves on the political chessboard, is baffling.
The Congress party structure in the State continues to be in shambles. Two years after the GPCC president Girish Chodankar relinquished change, let’s not forget that he did it twice, the party leadership in Delhi refrained from stepping in. The party in Goa is not only disunited but has been drifting on individual whims and fancies. It comes as a surprise that Rao failed to reign in unity and give a sense of direction even when elections are around eight months away.
The split between the legislature party members and the Pradesh Congress is clear as daylight and the hesitancy to find a balance between old faces and new ones remains a dilemma. As things stand, the party on its own is not in a position to pose any danger to the ruling BJP.
Come to the BJP, and their Central leaders have gone about their job with a certain level of seriousness and methodology and used their visit to douse the fires of rebellion while also broadly reviewing the party’s electoral standing. Santosh and Ravi have swiftly stepped in at a time when the friction between senior members of the cabinet and Chief Minister Pramod Sawant was growing by the day. Leave alone the series of differences between the health minister and the Chief Minister that took centre stage during the Covid battle, recently, Waste Management Minister Michael Lobo has spoken openly about failures of ministers and how there is a need for a 'political revolution'. That was followed by Power Minister Nilesh Cabral's outburst that his files have not been cleared by the Finance Department which comes under Sawant. He even made a categorical statement that the CM must tell him to sit home because no work was getting done as files were not being processed.
The BJP national leaders have not allowed internal acrimony to fester. They have gone about their political diplomacy and heard ministers individually besides speaking to senior members of the party. In a single visit, they managed to kill two birds.
