Sudin in a corner
Here we are again after yet another week, one which involved an assembly session and an opportunity for political parties to take potshots at each other, if not much else.
But undoubtedly the story of the week has been the corner into which MGP supremo Ramkrishna "Sudin" Dhavalikar has found himself in.
The change of expression on his face when a journalist asked him a question about the comments made by his own party colleague and former MLA Lavoo Mamledar told the story.
Dhavalikar who, was himself present at a press conference to shoot down reports that he was taking the party towards a merger with the BJP, initially seemed eager to take questions. However, no sooner he heard that Lavoo had accused him of trying to merge the party, his countenance changed and he quickly walked away and sat in his car, muttering that Lavoo will have to explain his own comments.
So much for being eager to deny such rumours.
Of false propaganda and legacies
The sittings of the assembly often brings out the best in politicians. But every so often it also brings out the worst.
During the recent discussion, the private members resolution on coal which was unanimously adopted by the house was arguably the high point of this brief session. But Mauvin wasn't about to miss an opportunity.
During his speech on the coal issue, Mauvin recalled the anti-Meta Strips agitation back in the early 2000s.
"I was a victim of false propaganda," Mauvin recalled. "The kinds of things people said... that children will be born deformed... that there will be acid rain and we won't be able to grow anything... Because of that I lost that election," Mauvin recalled without mentioning who he had lost that election to.
The fact is that good old Mauvin was targeting his bete noire Matanhy Saldanha whose wife Alina is presently a member of the house also on a BJP ticket. Clearly he was the false propagandist on his list. So much for the BJP having promised to uphold his legacy, they are now actively speaking against him.
Attempt to scam goes silent?
Still on virtues of Goa's only politician whose well known "attempt to scam" the state exchequer made headlines not too long ago, Mauvin Godinho didn't stop at taking veiled potshots at his enemies past and present. During his oration on the issue of coal handling, Mauvin decided it would be proper to take potshots at his old political party under whose banner he practically grew up.
Speaking on the Congress legislators speeches against coal handling, Mauvin taunted them about all "their" scams referring to the mining scam, the SEZ scam, which he said resulted in the locking of land away from industrial use.
"The same people are today shouting about what this government is doing," Mauvin said.
Hang on there, wasn't Mauvin part and parcel of the then government which he alleged was scamming its way to glory? Why was he silent when it was happening? So he could have prevented an "attempt to scam"?
And whatever happened to the problems he had with the Dhavalikars who used to get under his skin during the last term? Guess we'll have to wait for another term (or maybe two) for him to speak his mind on it.
The third option
This week began with the Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar chairing a presentation on the nationalisation of rivers, you know, that issue which led the Goa Forward Party to float black paper boats at a certain backwater in San André constituency many moons ago.
Times have changed since then and how! Nonetheless, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar was in no mood to concede even an inch of the the ground he had taken a stand on and was determined that it was going to be the way it was.
As part of his defence mechanism, Parrikar offered two options to those who insisted that Goa's rivers be removed from the list of scheduled rivers and/ the act scrapped. Either write to the Member of Parliament, of which Goa has three (it's not as of three can't make a difference out of 790, we're guessing) or approach the Supreme Court to get the Act struck down.
These are the two options democracy and the Constitution of India offered, Parrikar suggested.
There is however a third option, that Parrikar, we are not really sure why, didn't offer as an option to those opposed to what his governments are doing. "Don't vote for the party that is doing this."
Surely that's a valid and legal option offered by democracy AND the Constitution.
Here we are again after yet another week, one which involved an assembly session and an opportunity for political parties to take potshots at each other, if not much else.
But undoubtedly the story of the week has been the corner into which MGP supremo Ramkrishna "Sudin" Dhavalikar has found himself in.
The change of expression on his face when a journalist asked him a question about the comments made by his own party colleague and former MLA Lavoo Mamledar told the story.
Dhavalikar who, was himself present at a press conference to shoot down reports that he was taking the party towards a merger with the BJP, initially seemed eager to take questions. However, no sooner he heard that Lavoo had accused him of trying to merge the party, his countenance changed and he quickly walked away and sat in his car, muttering that Lavoo will have to explain his own comments.
So much for being eager to deny such rumours.
Of false propaganda and legacies
The sittings of the assembly often brings out the best in politicians. But every so often it also brings out the worst.
During the recent discussion, the private members resolution on coal which was unanimously adopted by the house was arguably the high point of this brief session. But Mauvin wasn't about to miss an opportunity.
During his speech on the coal issue, Mauvin recalled the anti-Meta Strips agitation back in the early 2000s.
"I was a victim of false propaganda," Mauvin recalled. "The kinds of things people said... that children will be born deformed... that there will be acid rain and we won't be able to grow anything... Because of that I lost that election," Mauvin recalled without mentioning who he had lost that election to.
The fact is that good old Mauvin was targeting his bete noire Matanhy Saldanha whose wife Alina is presently a member of the house also on a BJP ticket. Clearly he was the false propagandist on his list. So much for the BJP having promised to uphold his legacy, they are now actively speaking against him.
Attempt to scam goes silent?
Still on virtues of Goa's only politician whose well known "attempt to scam" the state exchequer made headlines not too long ago, Mauvin Godinho didn't stop at taking veiled potshots at his enemies past and present. During his oration on the issue of coal handling, Mauvin decided it would be proper to take potshots at his old political party under whose banner he practically grew up.
Speaking on the Congress legislators speeches against coal handling, Mauvin taunted them about all "their" scams referring to the mining scam, the SEZ scam, which he said resulted in the locking of land away from industrial use.
"The same people are today shouting about what this government is doing," Mauvin said.
Hang on there, wasn't Mauvin part and parcel of the then government which he alleged was scamming its way to glory? Why was he silent when it was happening? So he could have prevented an "attempt to scam"?
And whatever happened to the problems he had with the Dhavalikars who used to get under his skin during the last term? Guess we'll have to wait for another term (or maybe two) for him to speak his mind on it.
The third option
This week began with the Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar chairing a presentation on the nationalisation of rivers, you know, that issue which led the Goa Forward Party to float black paper boats at a certain backwater in San André constituency many moons ago.
Times have changed since then and how! Nonetheless, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar was in no mood to concede even an inch of the the ground he had taken a stand on and was determined that it was going to be the way it was.
As part of his defence mechanism, Parrikar offered two options to those who insisted that Goa's rivers be removed from the list of scheduled rivers and/ the act scrapped. Either write to the Member of Parliament, of which Goa has three (it's not as of three can't make a difference out of 790, we're guessing) or approach the Supreme Court to get the Act struck down.
These are the two options democracy and the Constitution of India offered, Parrikar suggested.
There is however a third option, that Parrikar, we are not really sure why, didn't offer as an option to those opposed to what his governments are doing. "Don't vote for the party that is doing this."
Surely that's a valid and legal option offered by democracy AND the Constitution.
