Here is political chicanery at its most disgraceful height. While Mapusa MLA and former deputy chief minister Francis D’Souza lay still in the casket at his residence, a few power-hungry and insolent politicos were busy reaching out to his son Joshua with vague possibilities and offers of political support.
On Saturday, hundreds bid an emotional and tearful farewell to Francis, including legislators of all hues. Words such as ‘a great loss to the State’, ‘a setback to the party’ were being whispered in condolence messages. But behind the mask of sympathy during the family’s moment of grief, some offered political support while deceitfully planning a road map for party interests, while yet others made their first Mapusa moves.
The State was on a 3-day mourning, but the political juggernaut kept rolling showing no remorse to the pain and tears that flowed down the eyes of Francis’ family. While Joshua stood besides the mortal remains grieving the loss of his father, politicos began their manoeuvres of reaching out.
A ruthless power struggle was implicitly playing in the background. The Congress is the single largest party and this gives the allies enough reason not to trust the BJP on assurances against dissolution, especially when the numbers are down. While this remains the big picture, there is a calculated war of one upmanship going on between the MGP and Goa Forward. Both parties are currently on an equal footing in the government with three MLAs each. A four-member team can drastically swing the advantage and help them position better with the powers that be.
If MGP has set its eyes on the Shiroda and Mandrem bypoll, the Goa Forward is trying to latch on to the sympathy wave of Joshua D’Souza for the Mapusa seat. This brings to the fore the question of coalition dharma of not contesting against the BJP that senior ally Vijai Sardesai was screaming about recently. What happens to these ideologies and coalition ‘Lakshmana rekhas’ in Mapusa? Going by Sardesai’s yardstick of coalition dharma, he should be extending support to any BJP candidate without any bearing on whom the saffron party prefers to choose.
The BJP, however, has its own set of worries in Mapusa. Former Mapusa Municipal Council chairperson Sudhir Kandolkar appears to the obvious choice for his popularity, but the party cannot ignore other contenders like Rupesh Kamat and Pradeep Joshi. Moreover, the party will not be able to overlook the sympathy wave that Joshua carries, with support coming from across parties. Goa Forward is lurking like a hawk over Mapusa skies waiting to capitalize on Joshua with the single mind that there will be a significant transition of voters from his Late father.
Rest in peace Francis! The coalition back home continues to remain in pieces.
