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, the 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 Union Defence Minister, who still 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.
