MAPUSA
That five minority MLAs along with the deputy chief minister going for a holiday together may just be a coincidence, but it definitely makes a political statement in a State that is poll-bound in less than a year’s time.
It also shows the sway the deputy chief minister has in the State from North to the South of Goa.
In Bardez at least three BJP legislators “ Michael Lobo, Glenn Ticlo and Kiran Kandolkar “ enjoy more than just camaraderie with the deputy chief minister. Water Resources Minister Dayanand Mandrekar also enjoys cordial relation with the deputy chief minister.
“We are aware of Babush’s contribution to the party and we have high regards for him. But that does not mean that he can shoot his mouth off on every little incident. We follow certain discipline and every individual in the party has an opportunity to discuss issues in the party fora,” a senior party leader told The Goan.
With significant number of minorities in the State, their voting pattern can be crucial for BJP during the election.
For the former chief minister Manohar Parrikar, the deputy chief minister’s outbursts may be a small matter but there are chances the pin prick could fester into a larger problem especially during the election year.
The wild swings of coldness in relation between the chief minister and his deputy, ever since D’Souza missed the chief minister’s bus is an open secret in the corridors of power.
Not very long ago, in the winter of 2014, D’Souza was made to eat a humble pie after trying to defy the BJP high command by staking claim for the chief minister’s post by virtue of being the No 2 in the cabinet.
The deputy CM had than publicly said: “It\'s either the chief minister or nothing for me. I will not join the cabinet if not made the CM.”
Senior party leaders had then managed to assuage his feelings and made him to come around. He not only retreated into a shell but also managed to keep his post and remain the No 2 in the cabinet.
The BJP had then managed to bandage the abrasion but the wound was apparently festering from within.
Two months back D’Souza at a Bicholim function said he was only the deputy CM and not the CM clearly expressing his dismay at being sidelined by the party and not taking him into confidence on certain key matters.
In his Mapusa constituency, several developmental works taken up by the government took excruciating long time to complete. Once again, he started whining in the media that finance department was not releasing funds indicating that someone in the government was deliberately slowing work in his constituency.
Simultaneously, the buzz that the Mapusa MLA would be denied ticket this time around gained credence in the town much to the dismay of the deputy CM and his supporters.
“On one occasion, the deputy chief minister even signed on a blank paper and handed it over to the BJP party president, Vinay Tendulkar and a former MLA who’s an office bearer of the party asking them to word his resignation as they like,” a source close to the deputy chief minister told this reporter.
It’s an open secret that D’Souza was instrumental in convincing the top brass in the party to issue maximum tickets to minority candidates in the 2012 elections. The result was historic with as many as six legislators getting elected on BJP ticket which by no means was an ordinary task.
Basking in the glory, the BJP lived no stone unturned to project Francis D’Souza as the minority face of the party. At every event local and national and in every advertisement campaign, the party used D’Souza as the party’s minority mascot.
