It's no secret that there is no love lost between Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and his number two Vishwajit Rane and a few happenings this last week only added to the story.
For starters, Sawant took veiled pot-shots at Vishwajit over the latter's penchant to grab and corner all and any government jobs for his constituents, when he thundered: "Maka ti sanvay na" (I don't have that habit) in response to a journalist's query at a press conference seeking his comments on reports that jobs at the upcoming Mopa airport were being cornered by people from Sanquelim at the expense of their counterparts in Pernem.
Sawant clarified that 100 per-cent of the jobs went to Pernem-ites, at the press conference he had addressed jointly with BJP State president Sadanand Tanavade to tom-tom 8-year governance achievements of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Clearly, the reference of the barb was at Vishwajit, who incidentally followed it in less than 24-hours with his proposal for more posts for the GMC's Emergency Medicine department.
Earlier, at the start of the week, Vishwajit skipped, or rather made his absence conspicuous, at the celebratory event of Goa's 35th Statehood Day. We are however still trying to figure out if it was intended to spite Pramod-ji or his dad Pratapsingh Rane, one of Goa's 13 past CMs who were felicitated, and with whom he's been sparring at the top of one of Goa's tallest peaks - Vagheri.
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BJP's new gang of spokies
Unlike the wilted flower that has come to represent the Congress party in India and Goa, state BJP spokespersons struck a confident pose from the new age gangster film 'Pushpa', with a straightened palm on the neck and all that.
The BJP really seems gung ho in Goa, what with the party assuming power once again and the principal Opposition party, the Congress, turning its momentum into mulch.
Goa BJP's over on Pushpas, according to the photo, appear to come in all shapes and sizes. The photo also includes two unique Pushpas -- Urfan Mulla, who joined the party just before the elections and Advocate Yatish Naik, who made the switch from TMC after the elections.
While Sidharth Kuncalienkar, Pemanand Mahambre and Giriraj Vernekar are the saffron outfit's home grown Pushpas, whether Urfan and Yatish will blossom until the next season is something we might have to wait, to know.
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No monkey business this
Monkey nuisance kept forest department personnel busy and Aldona's hyperactive new legislator Carlos Ferreira Alvares on his toes early this week, who all learnt that dealing with our mischievous ancestors, is no monkey business at all.
Flooded with complaints from residents that a monkey was causing nuisance, attacking people at Camarcazan in his constituency, Alvares took the forest department on board to tackle the problem. The latter took charge, got down to ground zero and reported back that it was sorted out -- the primate had been shot with a tranquilizer.
But it wasn't over. A few minutes later, the monkey escaped despite the tranquilizer shot and the forest team was left hoping that the tranquilizer will begin to take effect later. Part of that hope, was realised as there were no more complaints of monkey nuisance
Now, there are reports that there is a second naughty monkey who was giving company to the first naughty monkey. Happy monkey chasing, Camarcazan!
Cong gets a Gundu dose
Rudderless and seemingly sailing to nowhere, the Congress' desk in-charge, Dinesh Gundu Rao attempted to inject a mega dose of adrenaline into its rank and file as he descended on the party headquarters for a couple of days.
Rao rattled out a volley of instructions to the admittedly demoralised Congressmen, exhorting them to pull up their socks and get going with programmes lined up for the party nationwide, following Udaipur Chintan Shivir.
With the grapevine flowing with stories of possibly yet another imminent exodus, it was again left to Gundu Rao to aggressively reject these claims and assure journalists that no one is going nowhere.
With Rao at his flank, the new Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) chief, Amit Patkar, was at pains and searching for words to convince the media that Goa will see a rejuvenated and aggressive Congress soon, and the proof of the pudding will be in the upcoming monsoon session of the Goa legislative assembly in July.
Lobo gets a knuckle rap
Opposition Leader Michael Lobo got a rap on his knuckles from the AICC's Goa desk in charge, for his unusually in-synch with the government stance on the question of the timing of panchayat elections in the State.
Dismissing Lobo's stance in favour of postponing the panchayat elections, Rao sternly said it is not the party's stand and could be the LoP's personal opinion.
The Congress stand is that the panchayat elections, whoever wins it, is held on time, Rao said, even as he endorsed the stance that reservations for OBCs should be maintained.
While this straight talking by Rao may all sound very well, what in reality is cooking in the backrooms of the Congress is anybody's guess, especially when his BJP counterpart CT Ravi literally set the cat among the pigeons and gave wings to last week's 'Fotashi' with his cryptic comment that BJP's legislative strength could go up to 30 in the House of 40.
The monsoon is imminent and it will not be unusual if, like it happens in the rice fields of Goa, the spectacle of croaking 'jumping chickens' replicates itself in the fields of politics.
(Compiled by Ashley do Rosario with inputs from Mayabhushan Nagvenkar.)
