MARGAO
Hazard a guess what foiled the coup engineered by a section of Congress MLAs, that gained momentum on Sunday, before it fizzled out by evening. Did the Saxtti factor not favour the prospective Congress defectors this time around? Or was it simply that the calculations went awry at the eleventh hour for the moment?
Consider this: In 2019, then BJP Minister and now Congress MLA Michael Lobo descended at the residence of then Congress MLA Wilfred D’Sa at midnight on July 9. After a meeting with his close aides, the first-time Nuvem MLA had finally given his nod to defect with nine other Congress MLAs, before the 10-member group embraced the BJP the next day. In fact, as many as three MLAs from Saxttidom, Filipe Nery Rodrigues, Clafasio Dias and Wilfred D’Sa had joined hands with seven others to form the 10-member group. If not for the three MLAs from Salcete, political observers then commented that it would have been nigh possible for the Congress MLAs to defect to the BJP.
On July 10, 2022, Congress faced a similar situation, but the Saxtti factor somewhat could not save the day for the defectors for reasons unknown. With the rebellion led by none other than seven-time MLA and former Chief Minister Digambar Kamat, many might have expected first-time MLAs -- Yuri Alemao and Quepem MLA Altone D’Costa -- to rally behind the Margao MLA. For, it was perceived in political circles that Kamat had played his role in giving party tickets to both Yuri and Altone in the scheme of things.
Yuri, however, was steadfast in his stand that he would not defect, but stay put in Congress come what may. What surprised many was the stand adopted by the neighbouring MLA from Quepem, Altone, who was perceived as a close aide of the Margao MLA.
Political observers wondered whether Yuri and Altone’s decision to stay put with the Congress stems from the fact that joining the BJP does not serve their interests politically, more so when they are young and planning to play long innings from Cuncolim and Quepem, respectively. That’s not all. Both Yuri and Altone must have realized the folly of switching sides from the Congress to the BJP when their predecessors -- Clafasio Dias and Chandrakant Kavlekar -- the later who rose to occupy the post of Deputy Chief Minister, bit dust in the 2022 husting.
With both Yuri and Altone resolving to stay put in the Congress, the defectors' camp had to now explore the possibility of roping in party heavyweight Aleixo Sequeira. While Sequeira had all along maintained that he has not been approached by anyone to defect from the party, Kamat’s sudden visit to his residence at Manora-Raia on Sunday evening raised many an eyebrow, giving rise to speculations whether the former Power Minister was being offered with a ministerial berth, which was firmly denied by the Nuvem MLA.
Interestingly, Digambar Kamat’s Sunday evening visit to the residence of Aldona MLA Adv Carlos Alvares Ferreira again raised eyebrows and only sent indications that the defection plan somewhat went awry.
Political observers are trying to figure out whether MLAs, who had promised to join hands to embrace the ruling party, developed cold feet after realizing that the promised positions and other considerations were not forthcoming from the ruling side.
