MARGAO
Nearly 10-months after the regional outfit earned brickbats for joining hands with the BJP to form the coalition government, Goa Forward returned back to the minority heartland Salcete, riding on the emotive Opinion Poll.
A day after the impressive meeting at the Lohia Maidan, a host of questions have come to the fore in political circles, more so after all the Goa Forward ministers, led by party supremo Vijai Sardesai, besides leaders, threatened to withdraw support to the Manohar Parrikar-led coalition government.
One, with the 2019 Lok Sabha election still a year away, questions are being asked on the political options available to the Goa Forward before they think of dumping the BJP to form an alternative government. Or, was the commemoration of the Opinion Poll day followed by the public meeting an attempt by the regional outfit to win back the credibility and confidence of the minorities.
Questions are being raised whether the threat to withdraw support to the coalition government a calculated move by the regional party to re-establish itself and recover the lost ground after the party faced a huge wave of resentment and backlash post-March 11 when Goa Forward decided to tie-up with the BJP.
Another question that is being asked in political circles is whether the regional outfit’s threat to withdraw support is directed at certain BJP leaders, who have no love lost with the Goa Forward leadership. Goa Forward supremo Vijai Sardesai’s insistence that that the party has extended support only to Manohar Parrikar and not to the BJP, indicates that the party is seeking space to resolve contentious issues, including the installation of Jack Sequeira’s statue in the Goa Assembly complex.
Incidentally, GFP ministers and the leadership went to the public with the threat to withdraw support to the government barely hours after the Chief Minister did not even make a reference to Jack Sequeira’s contribution to the Opinion Poll, leaving alone making an announcement to install his statue in the Legislative Assembly complex.
That the GFP leaders thundered from the Lohia Maidan that BJP president Amit Shah is not the boss of the regional party and that central leaders (an obvious reference to Union Surface Transport Minister, Nitin Gadkari) cannot dictate terms to Goans, is again being viewed in political circles as an attempt to win back credibility.
Says political commentator, Adv Cleofato Coutinho: “I do not think the Goa Forward leadership will execute the threat of withdrawing support to the Manohar Parrikar-led government. If you analyze minutely, the threats are nothing but public posturing by the regional outfit after earning brickbats for propping up the BJP government. Secondly, I do not see any alternate options for the Goa Forward assuming the party is serious in executing the threat to withdraw support to the government. My reading is that the regional party is trying to posture itself and win back its credibility”.
GFP supremo, Vijai Sardesai, said, “As I have said at the public meeting, this extraordinary decision was taken by the party to do extraordinary things such as recognition for the Opinion Poll and to get Jack Sequeira’s statue installed in the Assembly complex. This issue, which touches the hearts of every Goan, was systematically relegated to the background. And, the Goa Forward will fight to get the statue installed in the Assembly complex and is ready to make any sacrifice,” Sardesai added.
