The Congress might rue the day it decided to kick Babush Monserrate out of the party because the results of the Corporation of the City of Panaji elections have shown that he is the only one capable of taking on the BJP and winning. At the end of counting of votes
on Tuesday, the Monserrate panel won 17 seats while the BJP bagged 13. What this effectively means is that the BJP has given up control of the CCP to Monserrate, who could be a friend or a foe depending on which way the political wind is blowing.
The BJP might want to pat itself on the back for wresting two wards from the Taleigao constituency, while maintaining its position in the Panaji constituency. The consolation prize that
it would want to give itself, comes in the form of relief that Monserrate,
who has always had an eye on the Panaji constituency,
was unable to breach its stronghold. The Congress, which
decided to put up a panel for the first time in a municipal election,
now has a clear picture of where it stands. Its panel was
wiped out and the total number of
votes polled by its candidates was a
pathetic six per cent, enough to be
counted as an also-ran, not a serious
contender.
Once the celebratory din dies
down, Monserrate, the mayor selected
by him and the corporators
from his group, will have to get
down to the business of running
the city and implementing their manifesto. And this is where
it is likely to run into a huge hurdle “ money. A large question
mark now hangs over the smart city scheme which should have
been an election issue, but was not. Monserrate has shown no
interest in the scheme and neither has the electorate. It was
never discussed or debated because all along it seemed like
a scheme cast on the city from above, without its permission.
Who doesn’t want Rs 100 crore a year? But when push came to
shove and the city was told to cough up an additional Rs 100
crore, practically everybody, BJP included, turned their backs
on it. Obviously, it would be ‘un-smart’ to go to the electorate
and tell them of the additional charge or tax they would have
to pay to make Panaji ‘smart’.
A casual reading of the Monserrate manifesto for Panaji
gives one a glimpse of the projects that, if implemented, would
lift the profile of the city. But putting all this into practice will
take a lot of money and cooperation of the State government,
which may or may not be inclined to get involved now that
power has slipped out of its hands. In politics, it is always
about who walks away with the credit.
Siddharth Kunkalienkar will breathe a little easy now. The
tense moments in the run up to the polls have run their course,
and in the end he proved that he could hold on to his bastion,
albeit with a lot of help from the Defence Minister, who remains
a formidable force in State politics. While Monserrate will be
biting his nails bare to figure out a way of making inroads into
Panaji, the BJP can now take a serious shot at Taleigao.
Panaji may or may not be better off from this election. The
pan-city problems like traffic congestion, parking, cleaning
the St Inez creek will remain because any solution requires
active participation of the State government. However, the
smaller ones like drains, footpaths, lights, governance and
ward-level planning will, hopefully, move forward. Life might
not exactly change because as is often said, the more things
change, the more they remain the same.
