Why has TCP Minister Vijai Sardesai suddenly pushed the panic button? With political parties taking positions for the crucial Shiroda and Mandrem by-poll, there are early signs that a lot can change on Goa’s political landscape. MGP has been firm on contesting the bypoll, and it’s the Goa Forward which has begun to feel the shivers, more than the BJP. Talks of an imminent government collapse have surfaced along with Vijai’s secret Plan-B.
The two big questions that are doing their rounds are: How can an MGP win in Shiroda lead to a government collapse? And what is Vijai’s Plan-B? Going by simple logic, a win for the MGP would mean a plus for the coalition government. However, it will have far reaching consequences if MGP’s strength goes up to four. It will put MGP on a higher pedestal and give them distinct advantage over Goa Forward which till now has been sharing honours with three MLAs a piece.
A four-member MGP team will not only have a greater bargaining power, but will have the discretion to ‘arm-twist’ the dispensation or switch loyalties with a restlessly waiting Congress in the background. The roar of the MGP is bound to stop the Goa Forward in its tracks. PWD Minister Sudin Dhavalikar, who has fallen out of the leadership crisis after being almost there, will find new hope. And the redundancy of Goa Forward, which currently is indispensable in this formation, will begin to show. In a way, this could be the beginning of the end.
What about the secret Plan B? The disunity within the MGP ministers is an open secret. It’s a known fact that two of MGP’s ministers “ Manohar Babu Ajgaonkar and Dipak Pawaskar have by far isolated themselves from the party. The fact that Ajgaonkar has gone public saying wherever there is power he is there, sums it all. Two of the three MGP MLAs changing loyalties would help them to effectively bypass the anti-defection law. But this Plan B can’t wait till the by-poll where Deepak Dhavalikar has thrown himself in the contest. A win here for MGP will nullify Vijai’s plan which centres around engineering a two-third split within MGP.
The bigger fight lies within the coalition. While the Congress is busy working on bypoll strategies with even Margao MLA Digambar Kamat being roped in as Chairman of the campaign committee, it is the MGP which is giving Goa Forward the jitters. There’s no hard and fast rule that a coalition partner cannot contest against another. Ideologies and coalition dharna are rarely respected in Goan politics which has turned to be more of a rat race for power.
