If you can’t beat them, join them, so goes the popular adage, and this has become so relevant in Goan politics. In a surprise turn of events, Porvorim MLA Rohan Khaunte resigned as a member of the Legislative Assembly and is set to join the BJP. The BJP leadership conveyed its decision to the Party block in Porvorim to induct Khaunte. Khaunte has been hobnobbing with the Congress recently with even his workers joining the party and quickly exiting. Let’s not forget that Khaunte even had confabulations with TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee during one of her earlier visits, and more recently, he indicated that he would go to the polls as an Independent.
Khaunte has been a fierce opponent of the ruling dispensation and has been consistently taking cudgels against the BJP and its workers. Seen as a tough opponent, launching a well-studied attack on the ruling benches in the Legislative Assembly on issues affecting the common man, and those concerning the finances, Khaunte is known to have single-handedly forced the government to rethink key decisions. If there was a semblance of an Opposition fight, Khaunte stood tall with his voice reverberating within the hallowed precincts of the House. How can one forget the tirade he launched against the PWD officials and the government when Porvorim was thirsting for water with taps running dry for weeks together.The crusade launched by Khaunte against the government and more specifically against Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and his cabinet team was not about activism, but a shining example of how democracy should work. From charging the government over Covid mismanagement, misappropriation of funds and faulty policies, the Porvorim MLA gave the BJP anxious moments, pushing them on the back foot ever since he fell out of power.
Khaunte, who was seen as a youth figure in politics, has cut out a sorry picture of this image with an opportunistic decision to join hands with the very dispensation he has been relentlessly attacking for almost two years. This sets a horrible precedent to all the young faces that drew inspiration from his leadership and is seen as a clear betrayal of mandate once again, a notorious trait which several politicians have acquired over the years.
Khaunte, by joining the ranks of BJP would secure his electoral fortune, as much as the saffron brigade gains an advantage of numbers. It’s an unholy give-and-take that will lead to a
huge trust deficit on legislators and their brand of politics, not only in the Porvorim constituency but across the landscape of Goa. If the election is an opportunity for leaders to bend and change colours, it provides an equal opportunity for people to understand leaders better. While an election knocks on the doors of Goa once again, it would be a time when the people of the State will have to seriously and deeply introspect on the kind of leaders they are choosing because, now you know, even the ones who are considered loyal and upright leaders who swear by loyalty crumble when it comes to power politics.
