The chemistry between the Vijai Sardesai-led Goa Forward Party (GFP) and the Congress appears to be improving by the day.
Earlier this week, there was a flutter at the plush office 'designed tastefully' by the GFP supremo, where a Satyanarayan pooja was held in the capital city. It had Congressmen lining up to demonstrate courtesy.
The Congress' suave and articulate Aldona legislator, Carlos Alvares surprised many by making his presence felt on the solemn occasion for the Sardesai-led party. The tastefully designed interiors wasn't lost on the Aldona legislator, who made it a point to mention his appreciation and single out the collage of photographs of Goan freedom fighters.
Alvares had company. The Congress' State president, Amit Patkar also headed to the GFP office and shared several moments of bonhomie with Sardesai along with a team of Congress office bearers.
Was it why Patkar's predecessor, Girish Chodankar, was fretting and fuming this week? Or is it the other way round, where isolated as he is in the numbers game, Sardesai is fishing in the troubled waters the Congress is struggling to pick its leader? It definitely leaves us wondering.
It's raining clean chits these days
Does it surprise anyone? The Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) of the Goa Police is yet to find closure in the two cases which reek of mystery: one related to the allegations of illegalities in the Outline Development Plans (ODPs) which is dogging the Opposition Leader Michael Lobo and two the laughable 'Shah Jahan for Taj Mahal' modus operandi to sanction renovation work of the Kala Academy without a tender process as admitted by Art and Culture Minister Govind Gaude.
Closure or not, it doesn't stop the ACB from conferring clean chits to these two politicians.
In the first instance, the allegations over the large-scale conversion of land via the ODP route in the much sought after Calangute-Candolim beach belt and the adjoining Arpora-Nagoa-Parra areas played out for well over two months with a high decibel war between Lobo and TCP Minister Vishwajit Rane. It eventually ended up with revised ODPs for the two areas which are still under process. But it took the ACB just two weeks to white-wash the whole affair and dish out the clean chit to Lobo, perhaps indicating which side the winds are blowing for the Calangute legislator.
As for the second case, how could we have expected the ACB to find fault with a sitting cabinet minister, more so when he has invoked the emperor who built the seventh wonder of the world? It certainly doesn't surprise us, even if the work of renovating the Kala Academy is still a long way away from completion.
Hey Venkatesha! Hey Prabhu!
It couldn’t get worse for this once high flying builder. The beleaguered proprietor of M/s Prabhu Construction, Venkatesh Prabhu Moni who has failed in his commitments to clients and banks has had it coming from all sides.
On Wednesday, an unsuspecting Moni who came in his Maharashtra registered Maruti Breeza car to attend a hearing in the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) court created a flutter near the court building at Patto, Panaji.
While the builder and his lawyer were inside the court, the recovery agent of the bank, which Moni owes monies, after being tipped off rushed to Patto and seized the vehicle parked near the court.
The area near the Spaces building where the RERA court is housed turned into a virtual movie scene with the recovery officials encircling the car and starting the procedure of jotting down the details of the car.
A kin of Moni who was seated in the parked car was asked to move out even as the authorities took possession of the vehicle.
While all this was going on, inquisitive bystanders flashed out their mobiles and began video filming the incident.
Not very long ago, the RERA court had slapped Rs 50 lakh penalty on the builder for violating various orders passed by the court and also directed him to pay interest to flat owners for failing to keep his commitment. The amount runs into a couple of crores.
Later Canara Bank took possession of his office located at Patto Plaza in the capital city for defaulting to clear a loan amounting to Rs 4.57 crore. Just a month ago the power department officials had disconnected power supply to his plush bungalow in Salvador-do-Mundo for defaulting on approximately Rs 4-lakh electricity dues payments. Poor Moni! It seems there's no let-up on problems faced by the builder.
New lifestyle: Is Valpoi ready?
Trust Town and Country Planning Minister Vishwajit Rane to come up with outlandish and out-of-the-box ideas to grab headlines and attention.
Undoubtedly, he was the flavour in the first few months of the current innings, first with his war against Opposition Leader Michael Lobo and then a flurry of announcements related to his lucrative portfolio -- farm houses, film cities, golf courses, TDR et al.
Now, after a lull, he's come up with something new: A modern township for the municipal limits of his Valpo constituency.
Earlier this week, Rane held a interactive session to discuss the 'modern township' plan for elected representatives of the Valpoi Municipal Council, including the chairperson Shaizin Shaikh, at his private bungalow in Dona Paula, with the Consultant of Goa State Urban Development Agency (GSUDA), Mr Mansi.
Shaikh and other councillors -- Anil Katkar, Faizal Shaikh, Ramdas Shirodkar, Vinod Haldankar, Prasanna Gawas, Sharafat Khan and Vaciyuddin Sayyad -- were given a lowdown of the plan.
According to Rane, the plan envisages a "new type of lifestyle" for the people of Valpoi municipal limits.
The efforts to build a modern township in Valpoi will include preparing a 'master plan' for the municipal council which will include walkways, elevated cycling tracks et al.
"We look forward to expediting this project that will benefit the Valpoi Municipality and usher in a new type of lifestyle for the people of Valpoi," Rane revealed via Twitter.
Rajesh in a hurry?
One can understand a BJP MLA parading panchas in front of Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, but when an MLA of the Opposition Congress does so, eyebrows are bound to be raised or will they?
Cumbarjua MLA, Rajesh Phaldesai, paraded panchas from some panchayats in his constituency before Sawant, apparently with the obvious objective of proving that he has hold over the panchayats in his jurisdiction.
However, the rumour mills started rolling with journalists suggesting that there was something more than that meets the eye.
One such rumour doing the rounds was that the MLA is on his way to resigning and re-contesting, which is why he is parading panchas to show that he has political support in the constituency and impress upon the BJP that his win is a foregone conclusion as and when the need arises for him to resign and re-contest. Rajesh, seemingly, is a man in a hurry to jump the aisle.
(Compiled by Ashley do Rosario with inputs from Agnelo Pereira and Manuel Vaz)
