Up to 28 but gloomy
faces dot karyalaya
It has finally happened. Wednesday’s flight of eight Congress MLAs landing on the BJP tarmac has put an end to the suspense and speculation around what must have been one of the most publicly engineered defections Goa has witnessed. And boy! Haven’t we witnessed one too many of these since 1990?
Their strength buttressed to 28, the mood in the BJP headquarters should have been euphoric. There was none of it though. And, at the press conference addressed by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and BJP State president Sadanand Shet Tanavade who were flanked by all the eight new entrants, the cameramen and photographers had to repeatedly demand that the occupants of the dais sport a smile.
On the dais there also was NRI Commissioner, Narendra Sawaikar. He too wore a smile-less, gloomy expression, devoid of any smiles. Ditto was the case with former Deputy CM, Chandrakant (Babu) Kavlekar and Damodar (Damu) Naik.
The gloom, however, was broken by one solitary, eye-catching smiling face staring at it you from the back of the dais. That of the late Manohar Parrikar. From a portrait. Good or bad omen? Take your guesses.
Vijai still in hunt for
political footing?
One of the first politician to react to ‘operation kamal’ on Wednesday was none other than Vijai bab Sardesai. The one-MLA Goa Forward Party (GFP) supremo went ballistic on such lofty attributes as ‘political morality’ and integrity. Political observers, however, are unsure whether the inspiration comes from a genuine revulsion to the political developments or from being left out from the action.
Vijai is hardly accustomed to stay out of the action or media glare for too long. A little bird, not a bulbul, tells us that he is eyeing the opportunity thrown up by this vacuum of sorts created in the Opposition benches which has left the House without a Leader of the Opposition.
The Congress, reduced to a strength of a mere three. But it still is the single largest Opposition party. It is followed by the Aam Aadmi Party with a strength of two, Revolutionary Goans Party with one and Vijai who makes up the strength of one of his GFP.
There is an arithmetic possibility. A political party, not an alliance, needs to have a strength of four (10% of the House) to stake claim to the post of Opposition Leader, a cabinet rank post. Congress is one short and Vijai is without any sustainable political footing.
Win-win? The answer lies in the answer of the question we had posed in these very columns three weeks ago -- Is anything cooking Vijai, Congress?
Rs 25 crore for cattle class
Rs 25 crore!! Yes, that’s the price tag of the cattle…err the MLAs who ditched the Congress and embraced the BJP on a cloudy Wednesday morning. We were not able to digest the astronomical amount but a well entrenched senior leader in the saffron party confirmed that the figure was indeed true and that for the BJP this amount is peanuts. The BJP leader also said that no MLA would agree to crossover for anything less than the amount quoted as it’s a huge risk they take, sometimes, even at the cost of their political career.
Interestingly, seven out of the 10 MLAs that defected to BJP in 2019 and contested the 2022 assembly polls lost. That explains the Rs 25 crore theory. The leader said for the BJP, wooing opposition MLAs was a child’s play and more so if the MLAs belonged to the Congress.
He further informed that once the initial euphoria dies down and the real business of governance sets in, the status of the cattle…err the MLA is reduced to just a number and many times they will not be able to even move a pin in the corridors of power.
Pitru Paksha?? Who cares! Not the BJP
The desperation within the BJP and more so for the eight Congress MLAs was evident when they managed to complete the task they set out to accomplish during a phase which is considered very inauspicious in the Hindu calendar.
This year, Pitru Paksha or Shradh, which is considered inauspicious, is a 15-day period that begins on September 10 and culminates on September 25 according to the Hindu calendar. During this period, the Hindus pay obeisance to the departed souls of their ancestors. For the BJP, which takes pride in declaring itself as a Hindu party, the selection of dates for organising any event is a long drawn and meticulous exercise. Not in this case though.
Obviously, in the desperation of having missed several earlier dates for the unholy act of defection forced the BJP and the cattle…err the MLAs to give the Pitru Paksha a go by.
After all, as Diggu bhai said, they must have consulted their God and did the act on Wednesday.
Who to blame?
Who is to be blamed for the recent switchover of the two Congress MLAs from Tiswadi namely Rudolf Fernandes and Rajesh Faldessai.
Is it only the legislators themselves or is it the Congress party as well? If one conducts an analysis then the finger would equally point towards the Congress and not just the MLAs. One may ask why? Firstly, as far as Faldessai is concerned everybody knew that once elected this man would never stay in the Congress and would switch sides at the first given opportunity.
Even the Congress leaders were well aware of his close relation with CM Pramod Sawant but they chose to look the other way considering the amount of money Faldessai was willing to spend to ensure Congress victory in Cumbarjua which eluded the party ever since Pandurang Madkaikar left.
As for Rudolf, the Congress knew all along that they would not be able to have control over Fernandes after his victory. The Congress was also aware of Fernandes’ past which could play in the hands of BJP as and when they needed to get Fernandes on their side. But, in both the constituencies the Congress chose winnability over integrity and the result is there for all to see.
And if anybody expects that the Congress will learn its lessons after this episode, well we admire their persistence.
