CM, party chief hold separate parleys, caution duo to contain rivalry amid tribal vote fallout fears
PANAJI
Days after the simmering feud between a smirking Sports Minister Ramesh Tawadkar and the sulking former minister Govind Gaude spilled in the open, the top leadership of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is holding parleys separately with them to douse the feud.
Concerned over the adverse fallout it can have for the party's standing among the nearly 12 per cent tribal electorate, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and BJP State president, Damodar (Damu) Naik, are spearheading the fire-fighting.
The clash intensified over the last weekend, when Tawadkar publicly launched a scathing attack on Gaude, even raking up the former sports minister's memefied 'Shah Jahan' sobriquet.
He went on to suggest disciplinary action against Gaude and also mocked the latter's “artistic” contributions by sarcastically suggesting the Gomant Bhushan be awarded to him.
Gaude, sulking after he was dropped by Sawant from his cabinet, hit back both verbally and politically. He accused Tawadkar of orchestrating his losing the cabinet berth and on Sunday launched a new tribal organisation at Canacona which is the Sports Minister's home turf.
The public spat between their two top tribal leaders has put the BJP's State leadership in a spot of bother fearing that it could spell trouble in the 2027 elections if the rivalry is permitted to fester.
Both Sawant and Naik have spoken to both the leaders separately and cautioned the duo to halt their public duel and are now on a mission to downplay the feud and its effects.
"Hate is always there where there is love,” Naik said in a bid to trivialise the Tawadkar-Gaude rivalry even as he claimed that both sides have been asked not to air their views in public.
Naik sought to claim that the matter is "resolved" after he met both Tawadkar and Gaude separately.
However, Naik's claims do not add up and the party leadership is worried that it could adversely affect the BJP’s tribal support base at a time when the Zilla Panchayat elections are due by this year end and the all-important 2022 assembly elections slated to be held in March 2022.
Goa has a nearly 12 per cent tribal population and both Tawadkar and Gaude are both quintessential in BJP's plan to mobilise tribal voters for the party in both these elections. Electoral results can be influenced by the tribal voters in at least a dozen ZP constituencies and four Assembly segments.
An indication that he got talked down over the issue by party leaders came from Tawadkar himself who refused to make any further comment on Gaude, especially his political activity on his home turf in Canacona by launching a new tribal organisation there.
"For me the issue of Gaude is closed," Tawadkar said when he was specifically asked to comment on the event at Canacona on Sunday he organised to launch the tribal collective.
Gaude on the other hand continues to be in a belligerent mood saying he won’t let the insults aimed at him be swept under the carpet.
Meanwhile, BJP insiders believe that the feud goes beyond just a personality clash between the two tribal leaders which could damage the party significantly. A member of the saffron party's core leadership told The Goan that there seemingly are deeper wounds related to power-sharing and that the damage may have already begun to occur vis-a-vis its tribal support base.
Since the 2012 elections, the BJP had steadily grown its influence in the tribal heartland in the far South – Sanguem, Quepem and Canacona and became the most preferred party among the tribal electorate in the North as well when it lured Gaude into its fold ahead of the last assembly election.
The tribal vote is also important in a handful of other constituencies as well, including Shiroda and Mayem, which is why the party leadership is anxious to have the Tawadkar-Gaude duo bury their hatchet.
