Former Congress MLA Dayanand Sopte who is roped in by the BJP will only usher in fresh problems for the saffron brigade, and the party will have to seriously rework its strategies if they are to fulfil the promises made to the new recruit from Mandrem.
The going will not be easy for Sopte who suddenly finds himself in no man’s land. If the fuming Congress workers have deserted him, the situation is no better on the other side of fence where the BJP block committee and workers turning their back on Sopte.
When Sopte addressed his first public meeting in Mandrem constituency on Sunday evening, there was an aura of isolation and Sopte could only bank on his persona to address his close supporters and well-wishers. There was no banner of BJP to back him and the Congress wave was distinctively missing.
Sopte’s candid admission that there was not enough time to call on the people before agreeing to switch loyalties is not going to calm the storm. Neither is it going to placate the warring BJP leaders including former chief minister and senior BJP leader Laxmikant Parsekar who have been kept in the dark too.
However, this could result in a political suicide for Sopte if the BJP leadership fails to come up with a strong counter-strategy to get its cadre to back him, unless if Sopte does another flip-flop and decides to come back to the Congress as a prodigal son. With a defiant Parsekar refusing to let go, and party workers backing him to the hilt, the former chief minister will be at a huge advantage on the Mandrem turf.
In the midst of striking a right balance with its coalition partners, BJP is now engaged in fire-fighting a situation which it has forced upon itself more by circumstance to save its crumbling fort. The flip side is the party bosses in Delhi have not done their homework well. The general political template and the high command culture which has largely been effective, may not always be working in a Goan political scenario. The four commitments to Sopte are huge political promises by any measure and the high command will have to drive a hard bargain with Parsekar and its Mandrem block workers if they are to fulfil at least two of them. While the BJP leadership may choose to install Sopte as a minister and even foot his expenses for the by-poll, allocating him a ticket without getting the grass-root workers on board and persuading Parsekar, a seasoned hardcore BJP leader, to work for his success is a tough ask.
BJP leadership will be relatively better off in Shiroda since there are no political commitments, at least on record, made to their new import Subhash Shirodkar. Otherwise, this could also mean the end of the BJP road for Mahadev Naik.
