The State bid an emotional farewell to one of its tallest political leaders on Monday with people across all sections thronging the capital city to catch a final glimpse of Manohar Parrikar before he was consigned to flames. Death is something inevitable. When a man has done what he considers to be his duty to his people and his country, he can rest in peace, so goes a Nelson Mandela saying. Parrikar will rest in peace for he has shown rare character of going beyond the call of duty to serve his people till his last breath despite.
An era has just ended, while another one just began. Hours after the iconic leader left on his eternal journey, Pramod Sawant, a BJP strongman and Sanquelim MLA embarked on his maiden journey as the 11th chief minister of Goa. The former speaker, who has no experience of a minister, has a herculean task of not only fitting into Parrikar’s big shoes but also managing a coalition of varied hues. To make matters worse, he takes on the throne with two deputy chief ministers -- Vijai Sardesai, who has been a first-time minister in the Parrikar cabinet and the senior-most minister Sudin Dhavalikar.
The new political arrangement of two DyCMs however exposes more than what it can conceal. Goa is relatively a much smaller State in comparison to Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh and deciding to opt for two deputy chief ministers can only mean political compulsions rather than requirement of the State. It indicates that the BJP has succumbed to sheer political pressure of the allies and agreed for this power-sharing agreement to keep the government afloat.
Secondly, it suggests that the allies have absolutely no-confidence in the chief ministerial candidate on how he will go about his leadership role. This comes against the backdrop of Parrikar’s practice of engaging the allies. Thirdly, pressing for two deputies indicate that the allies have a lot of unfinished business to be carried forward from the Parrikar regime.
While Sawant goes about business, his focus will have to be establishing a level of trust within the allies which include some seasoned politicos. He has to start from scratch against the background that the G-6 and others gave a conditional acceptance to his leadership. It’s a known fact that Sawant never enjoyed a strong affiliation with either the Goa Forward or the MGP. Working closely with a coalition of varied interests will remain a major challenge. In this context, Parrikar was successful in doing a fair balancing act and kept the coalition partners and the Independents in good humour despite the ideological differences.
While there are ambitious plans in the pipeline with Goem, Goemkar, Goemkarponn still being the flavour, the new leadership trio faces a daunting task of balancing the economics. The State’s finances are in doldrums, and with two core sectors “ mining and tourism failing, generating revenue remains the topmost priority for the Sawant government. It remains to be seen how the new dispensation works in tandem in the larger interest of the State and how Sawant manages to hold on to the leadership reins and moves forward.
