São João, a blessing in disguise
Now that the dust has settled on the date for the panchayat elections, we can safely look back on the entire melodrama that surrounded the date.
Right from the time Chief Minister announced that the government finalised the date for the panchayat election on June 25, and he was reminded that the High Court had in the past directed the state government to hold elections on time, the date was jinxed.
Parrikar insisted that his decision was the right one because he also had the obligation to ensure that the elections are conducted in a fair manner.
But it really was a stroke of luck for him that he didn’t have to face the kind of embarrassment he would otherwise have to face.
Perhaps having a premonition that the case in the High Court would not go his way, the state government decided it would use the excuse of São João festival to prepone the elections by one whole week.
By the end of it all, when the High Court actually gave its verdict, the election was brought forward by only five days. A mighty let off for the government which otherwise was at the receiving end for its excuses in delaying the panchayat polls.
Surely a blessing in disguise from the altar of São João.
The IPB escapade
The Goa Forward Party will have received the news of the constitution of the Investment Promotion Board with mixed feelings. The nature of the IPB law meant that the two posts of vice chairmen in the IPB went to alliance partners Rohan Khaunte and Babu Azgaonkar of the MGP.
On one hand it means that the Goa Forward has less power and less discretion at its disposal especially in dealing with projects.
But crucially, on the other hand, for once the Goa Forward doesn’t have some explaining to do. The party which from its inception has been attacking the IPB can now always pass the buck to those in the IPB for the decision taken and those left without being taken.
For a change it is Rohan Khaunte who has some explaining to do.
Sheep without a shepherd
If there’s one thing that has perhaps gone unnoticed is the stoic silence of the political class on the issue of coal handling by the Mormugao Port Trust.
The marathon eight-day long public hearings concluded only recently and other than the opposition Congress which passed a resolution by all the MLAs to stand with the people in calling for MPT to drop their plans of coal handling the legislators from the Mormugao taluka were caught unawares. No doubt you will argue that Alina Saldanha of the BJP was prominently present for the hearings on several days and that other MLAs were in attendance too, the political class seems like sheep without a shepherd.
And why not? When the shepherd himself has remained tight lipped and indeed has been heard telling inner circles that Goans should be punished for opposing coal handling what can one expect of the sheep. The less said about Goa Forward’s V-turn on the issue the better.
First claiming that coal handling should be allowed in the name of power generation and then hastily beating a retreat when they realised that the coal isn’t being used for power and that public sentiment is against them. It’s another matter that the Goa Forward doesn’t know it shouldn’t be supporting coal fired power plants. We’ll keep that for another day.
What next for Trajano?
After becoming the latest one from the Congress party to be expelled on grounds of lacking discipline, Trajano D’Mello is a free radical.
The former enforcer of Dotor Willy, D’Mello got himself expelled using what is known as suicide by cop. For those unaware, suicide by cop is a means of provoking a police officer to shoot at you and kill you usually by sudden moves or drawing a weapon etc.
In this case, D’Mello’s weapons were the press conferences he had organised at the Piedade institute provoking the Congress leadership and supporting the Goa Forward. But the question remains. Why has D’Mello not joined or been welcomed into the party yet?
Are they having second thoughts?
