PANAJI
In a foot-loose political scenario flavoured by politicos of different hues hopping parties at the drop of a hat, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) State president, Sadanand Tanavade, on Thursday set the proverbial cat among the pigeons saying a 'big' South Goa leader is set to embrace his party and his identity would be known by Friday.
"You will know by tomorrow who the big leader from South Goa coming (to us) is," Tanavade said, while speaking to a news portal on Thursday night and responding to questions on whether there was any truth in reports that a leader of stature from South Goa was joining the BJP.
Tanavade's claim could not be verified independently but at a time when developments in Goa's political arena over the last several weeks have triggered a virtual mayhem in terms of politicians switching parties and political allegiances, such a claim gets undue credence.
Over the last week alone, two legislators -- former chief minister Ravi Naik and former minister Jayesh Salgaonkar -- have given up membership of the Goa legislative assembly and their respective Congress and Goa Forward Party to embrace the ruling BJP.
Also, at the fanfare Ponda event earlier this week to mark the entry of Ravi Naik at Ponda into the BJP, former Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis created a flutter when he publicly made an oblique but outlandish claim that multiple term chief minister and senior Congress leader Pratapsing Rane is set to exit the grand old party.
Fadnavis' claim led to conjecture hogging space in the media drawing from past events where Fadnavis and other BJP leaders paid visit to the Rane's at their Sattari residence, although both sides had then claimed it was merely courtesy.
Rane, however, himself came on record to rubbish the reports of his impending exit from the Congress.
The veteran Congress leader categorically denied any plans to leave the party saying in a video message: "The news that is being spread that I am quitting my party is a figment of imagination. These people just want to spread canards. I am not leaving my party."
"I belong to the Indian National Congress and that's it," Rane added in his brief video message.
Two months ago another former chief minister of the Congress, Luizinho Faleiro, had unexpectedly deserted the party after nearly four decades of association. He quit his membership of the House and joined the new kid on Goa's political block, Trinamool Congress and has since got elevated as Member of Parliament, winning a Rajya Sabha seat from the West Bengal quota.
These developments have left the Congress with a legislative strength of just three -- Opposition Leader, Digambar Kamat, Rane and Curtorim legislator Aleixo Reginald Lourenco.
But Tanavade's claims will have to run the course of time and can be taken seriously only when it happens for real, despite the ongoing party-hopping mayhem within the community of Goa's politicians.
