Panaji
Former Chief Minister Ravi Naik does not just hold his cards close to his chest; he appears to stash them deep in his shirt pocket.
On a sunny Tuesday morning, when he arrived at the state legislative assembly to submit his resignation as a Congress legislator from Ponda, even his son Roy did not appear to have a clue about his father's next political move, which is heavily linked to joining forces with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
Naik's mysterious 'grand plan' came out in the open formally, only after BJP state president Sadanand Shet Tanavade confirmed that Naik would be joining the party at 5:30 pm on the same day.
Earlier on Tuesday, after he submitted his resignation to the Speaker of the state legislative assembly Rajesh Patnekar, Naik played his trademark mysterious self, mumbling his way through a barrage of questions from reporting waiting for him at the state assembly complex.
"Can I not enter the assembly hall? I have submitted my resignation. Why are you asking about reasons? I have submitted my resignation. I have submitted my resignation. I will tell you about my next step after I come to Panaji," Naik told reporters.
When asked whether he would be joining the BJP and contesting the 2022 state assembly polls, Naik said: "Let us see later. Let the elections draw near. I came to meet the Speaker and I gave him my resignation. There was no reason why. I just gave him the resignation. Now there is time to think".
If Ravi Naik's responses were a tailor-made mystery, his son Roy appeared unaware (or at least unwilling to tell) about his father's next step.
When Roy, who is already a BJP member, was asked if his father should join the BJP and contest on the saffron party's ticket, Roy said: "He has been in politics for such a long time. Let us see. He has said neither yes nor no yet. He is always about suspense".
"I do not know anything. He said come here, so I came here," Roy said.
Addressing a press conference in Panaji, soon after Ravi Naik's resignation, Chodankar also seemed to ponder on the nature of relationship between Ravi Naik and his sons.
"Ravi Naik's sons do not even sit without asking their father. They will not even drink tea without consulting their father," Chodankar said, when asked about a running political parallel between Ravi Naik, whose sons are a part of the BJP with another former Chief Minister and Congress MLA Pratapsing Rane, whose son Vishwajit, is a Health Minister in the BJP-led coalition government.
"Do not compare the two persons," Chodankar said.
"Rane and Naik issues are different. Pratapsing Rane has not betrayed the Congress or quit the Congress... When his (Pratapsing's) son joined BJP, he moved a resolution in CLP for a disqualification petition against his own son and sought action against Vishwajit," Chodankar said, adding that Pratapsing Rane is and will be "fully with the Congress".
Chodankar said that Ravi Naik had been only technically a member of the Congress party for the last year and a half, after his sons joined the BJP.
"The day both his sons joined the BJP, on the third day we disowned him as a Congress MLA and told him that a person who sends his children across (to another party) and tries to sail in two boats, the Congress does not want such leaders. Congress wants leaders who stick with the party," Chodankar said, adding that he had predicted Naik's entry into the BJP a year and a half back.
Chodankar also said that the Ponda block Congress committee as well as the party's district committee had not forwarded Naik's name as the party's candidate for the 2022 polls.
"Our candidate shortlisting process started. Ponda block Congress committee has not named Ravi Naik's name as a candidate. The district Congress committee also did not recommend Ravi Naik's name. Our cadre and voters are clear," Chodankar said, adding that the party was keen on building a young leadership in Ponda.
"Everyone felt that the Congress would re-induct defectors ahead of elections. We took a firm decision. No to defectors. People are demanding that Congress should not field duplicitous candidates. 70 percent people have taken a decision to send defectors home, no matter how many MLAs the BJP buy. BJP cannot buy the people of Goa," Chodankar said.
