AAP and RGP entry only element of change, defection stain remains
PANAJI
For two decades in the current millennium and even before, Goa’s cauldron has stewed by and large the same set of politicians in its broth and thrown up the same narratives and scripts, year after year -- war of words, intense personality clashes, conspiracies leading to a seat in power and the malaise of defection which has now become endemic to the State’s polity.
This year, which ends at midnight today, has been no different but among a dozen such events of note some of which will be listed herein, two stand out -- one, Pramod Sawant going into an election as CM and returning in the top post after the results and two, curtains coming down on the five decades plus innings in the House of Pratapsing Rane.
Sawant king again
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant began the year facing an uncertain future, faced with a difficult general election which the Election Commission had scheduled for February 14. Apart from the challenge of ensuring his own re-election from Sanquelim, he had the onerous task of shepherding a chaotic BJP campaign to retain power against the challenge of a seemingly resurging Congress which had tied up with Vijai Sardesai’s Goa Forward Party, and high-decibel campaigns by Mamata Banerjee’s TMC which had tied up with the MGP, Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Revolutionary Goans Party (RGP).
Three months later, however, the results of that election returned the BJP with an impressive tally of 20 and thus back to power, unchallenged. And, Sawant himself bounced back with a second inning as CM, overcoming a feeble challenge from colleague and current Health Minister Vishwajit Rane.
With it, Sawant became the only sitting Chief Minister in Goa’s post Statehood era to retain in the top post after successfully leading his party to victory in a general election. Previously, the late Manohar Parrikar did lead his party to victory and return as CM but a spell of President’s Rule had separated his pre and post election tenures in 2002.
Two other Goan politicians -- Senior Rane and the late Dr Wilfred de Souza -- also led the Congress to victory as sitting Chief Ministers in 1994 and 2007. However both had failed to earn their party’s sanction to become CMs again post the results, then.
Curtains for Pratapsing Rane
The year brought the curtains down on the longest political career -- that of Pratapsing Rane -- who had continuously been a member of the Goa legislative assembly for more than 50 years since first getting elected in 1972. In this five decade span, he has been Chief Minister five times, Opposition Leader twice, and Speaker once.
Rane Senior himself brought the curtains down on his career by calling it a day after a brief and unsavoury spat with son Vishwajit. Apparently, to avoid a father-in-law v/s daughter-in-law electoral fight in Poriem, the latter wanted his father to retire. A brief public spat ensued between father and son but eventually Senior Rane gave in.
Defections remain endemic
Goa’s polity has for decades been tainted by the politics of defection. It has in fact become endemic and in the melee some prominent politicians have also done a back-and-forth switch between the BJP and the Congress. Top of that list are Michael Lobo and Digambar Kamat.
But first, the defection. After weeks of speculation, including a failed attempt back in July, Kamat and Lobo became part of a group of eight MLAs who ‘split’ from the Congress and ‘merged’ with the BJP in mid-September. Aleixo Sequeira, Lobo’s wife Delilah, his protege Kedar Naik, Rudolf Fernandes, Rajesh Phaldesai and Sankalp Amonkar were the six others that made up the numbers.
The development meant that Lobo, who began his innings as legislator back in 2012 in the BJP, left it and returned to it, in approximately eight months. Kamat’s back-and-forth between the Congress and BJP has however been stretched over a period of 17 years. He was a BJP MLA between 1994 to 2005, when he revolted and successfully contested a by-election with the Congress. Since then, he has remained with the Congress for 17 years, five of these as Chief Minister, before switching back to saffron party in the mid-September defection.
All in all, Lobo, who was a cabinet minister in ‘Sawant 1.0’ but switched to the Congress on the eve of the 2022 elections did earn a dividend as he got his wife a ticket and a win from Siolim and similarly for another protege -- Kedar Naik -- in Saligao. He has however lost out in the larger power-play, out of the cabinet and without any real power and influence.
AAP & RGP bring in novelty
The representation found in the House by the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the regional Revolutionary Goans Party (RGP), is perhaps the only political development of 2022 that has brought in an element of novelty to Goa’s polity.
The AAP got two of its candidates elected -- Venzy Viegas and Cruz Silva -- while the RGP won one -- Viresh Borkar. It may be too early to comment or judge their potential to become harbingers of any significant positive change for the polity of the State in the long run. Suffice, however to say that this trio are all first-timers with no political background or lineage, barring Silva who had a brief stint as Sarpanch more than seven years ago. In a sense, they are a breath of fresh air, perhaps.
3 power couples in House
The year saw three families -- the Ranes, Monserrates and Lobos -- give the composition of the Goa’s politics a ‘family raj’ tinge. Thus, there are three couples in the House -- Jennifer and Atanasio (Babush), Dr Deviya and Vishwajit and the Delilah-Michael couple -- for the first time in Goa’s history.
One of these couples, the Monserrates, were already in the House together in the previous term, but now, the power equation has reversed with Jennifer giving way to her husband in the cabinet.
There are three more newbies in Bicholim MLA Dr Chandrakant Shetye, Cortalim MLA Antonio Vas (both independents) and MGP’s Jit Arolkar but all three of them will be hard-pressed to stand out and to make a difference and a mark on the State’s polity, having joined the treasury benches.
Vijai marginalised
Not every political figure has seen fortunes smile on them as they did for Sawant. Some won, others lost, and a few lost some but won some. In the last category comes the junior Rane, whose quest to become CM remained unfulfilled, but he did emerge more powerful getting charge of some powerful ministries, including Town and Country Planning, making him a second ‘power centre’ of sorts in the ruling camp.
In the list of ‘winners’ come the Tourism Minister Rohan Khaunte, WRD Minister Subhash Shirodkar, Agriculture Minister Ravi Naik, Power Minister Ramkrishna (Sudin) Dhavalikar and Fisheries Minister Nilkanth Halarnkar. All five of them were out of the power-play before 2022, now they are in it.
The one politician who has got marginalised in the course of the political developments in 2022, including the election, is the Goa Forward Party (GFP) Vijai Sardesai, who remains isolated as his party’s lone MLA in the House.
Other than his quality to stud the legislative proceedings with meaningful interjections, drive the narrative and a penchant to grab headlines with grit, Sardesai finds himself hardly in a position to make a difference to the overall, State-level politics and power-play.
The GFP supremo is not one to stay in limbo and his moves here on will be keenly watched as will that of a Congress at crossroads, beleaguered as it is with the mid-September desertion from its ranks by almost every leader of note.
For now, the chemistry between Sardesai and the Congress which is led by the surviving scion of the Alemao clan -- Yuri -- seems to be evolving. Time will tell if they, along with the two other surviving Congress MLAs -- Carlos Ferreira-Alvares and Altone D’Costa -- achieve the goal of exploiting a top-heavy BJP and rise to challenge of delivering an effective Opposition against the odds of poor numbers.
