And here we are after a brief election that didn't really change anything while making politicians sweat, as elections are bound to do.
Now that the elections are out of the way, the Congress government led by a BJP chief minister can get down to business.
Yes you may be wondering why we are calling it a Congress government. Well the story isn't exactly new given that everyone who matters in this government, save for the Chief Minister and MGP were all Congressmen. But that's not new.
What's now formalised is that the ‘family raj' or at least those who embodied it when the BJP's allegations of Congress being the home of family raj are now part and parcel of the BJP.
If memory serves us right, Vishwajit Rane, Atanasio Monserrate and Pandurang Madkaikar were those part of the family raj brigade that sullied the Congress back in 2012 reducing them to 09.
Churchill Alemão too, then the mascot of family raj is leaning to the BJP having voted in favour of the government on several occasions over the last six months.
The question now is this recipe work out any differently for the Congress government led by the BJP? Time will tell.
NGT decision just a precursor?
If one needed any indication of what the current government is going to be like, the government's decision to shift Goa's jurisdiction to the NGT in Delhi should serve as an ideal example.
With Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar conforming what we all suspected -- that it was his decision and idea to have the NGT shifted out the chief minister has gone on to confirm that he can indeed be malicious and vindictive.
His protestations to the contrary, the decision is in tune with his previous decisions. Case in point is the move have a huge fine for "frivolous complaints" when he was amending the Goa Lokayukta Act during the tenure of the previous government.
While he hasn't said as much, it's no secret that Parrikar is targeting litigators like Kashinath Shetye, Aires Rodrigues, Goa Foundation and the like.
What is it about such litigants that get Parrikar's goat is anybody's guess.
Can we expect such decisions to be the hallmark of the current dispensation.
Congress not up to speed
This has been a bad week for the ruling government at the centre with the Reserve Bank of India annual report which indicated that the entire demonetization exercise was the harebrained idea of a man with too many sycophantic followers and others too afraid to speak their own minds.
But it should have been one in which the Congress take full advantage of. Sadly that was not to be. The local Congress did not take any kind of advantage of it.
What's worse even when the opportunity presented itself to take on the state government, party president Shantaram Naik let it slip.
Case in point is Shantaram being asked to respond to the Goa Forward statement against the church the same day it was made. Rather than being with their fingers on the pulse, Naik said it would be better if he sees the statement "in print" before reacting to it.
In a world where the story changes by the minute, and the opportunity presents itself to change the narrative before the next day's papers print, Shantaram appears to be still living in a different era.
It is not a casino
Another week passes and another week of the MV Lucky Seven grounded at the Miramar beach. The question now remains on what exactly is it that is grounded at the Miramar beach. It certainly isn't a casino, as chief minister Manohar Parrikar will insist and we're not sure we can still call it a boat or a vessel.
What is it then? It can't yet be called a wreck because then that would mean it cannot be salvaged anymore, as horrific as that may sound.
Maybe we should stick to calling it "not a casino" because while no one knows what it is, there is at least one man who can say for sure what it is not. "It is not a casino!"
