Everyone in the Congress is not on the same page. And that would explain why all the party MLAs, baring Pratapsingh Rane, did not turn up for the executive committee meeting called by GPCC president Luizinho Faleiro. The meeting was slated to launch the party into election mode for 2017. The agenda for the meeting was to undertake groundwork for a vision document and manifesto for the assembly elections which are a year and half away. The excuse given by Congress Legislature Party spokesman Aleixo Reginaldo was all MLAs were busy in their constituencies, a euphemism for either total lack of belief in a vision document or lack of trust in the leadership of Faleiro.
At this point of time, the Congress does not come across as a political party willing, waiting and wanting to engage the BJP in battle. On the contrary, it seems like a house at war with itself. The party was mauled in 2012 and the recently concluded municipal elections were a ray of hope, even if a weak one. The party MLAs are elected representatives and any vision document without inputs from them would be short sighted and out of touch with reality. Despite the weak excuses given by Reginaldo, the absence of MLAs sends a strong message to the high command that all is not well in Goa and that the CLP and GPCC president do not see eye-to-eye.
No one doubts that Faleiro has had a calming effect on the party especially after John Fernandes' wrecking-ball performance. The Navelim MLA, who was chief minister twice and had his governments brought down by Congressmen on both occasions, is having problems kick-starting the party. Two relatively green horns have become the face of the party, calling press conferences at will to articulate the stand of the party while its MLAs shun the media.
The only thing that the Congress has done so far is to apologize for casinos and SEZs. Faleiro went on record to say that the party made mistakes in the past, which was unfair considering that he has been out of state politics for at least eight years. The statement was a strong comment on the previous Digambar Kamat government which took the brave decision to halt development of SEZs and initiated the process to move off shore casinos out of the Mandovi river. The party also appeared helpless in defending Kamat who eventually beat all moves by the BJP government to arrest him in the Louis Berger case. If Faleiro and Kamat are at war, as the utterances of the GPCC president would suggest, then the Congress will suffer for it.
The downfall of the Congress in 2012 was not just a sum total of corruption, but also the fact that the party had too many leaders pursuing individual agendas. And the result was disastrous. The Congress is already at a disadvantage as it was voted out of power at the Centre. It needs to find its feet both at the Centre and State. As a seasoned politician, Faleiro must realise that in order to take advantage of the BJP's shortcomings, he must unite all factions and leaders within the party or risk being out of power for another five years.
