the goan I network
PANAJI
Leader of the ruling government’s key alliance partner Goa Forward Party and TCP Minister Vijai Sardesai expressed confidence that the government will last its full term even as he acknowledged the “challenge” of managing the coalition in the current situation.
Backing Chief Minister, Manohar Parrikar to the hilt, Sardesai said the Cabinet reshuffle effected on Monday was his prerogative and also the BJP’s internal matter within the coalition.
“We think BJP has selected best of ministers”, he nevertheless commented.
Accepting that keeping the coalition government intact is a challenge in the present situation, Sardesai expressed faith that the government will complete its full tenure.
“Every day is a challenge. So many may say that this arrangement in BJP may be till Lok Sabha elections, but we are interested in holding the government together,” Sardesai said.
Sardesai has been a key figure in the political saga played out over the last several days ever since the out-of-action Parrikar sought to tweak the equation in the ruling coalition by elevating MGP leader Sudin Dhavalikar as Deputy Chief Minister and giving him functional charge of the CMO.
He successfully shot down Parrikar’s proposal and also altered the math by forming a new grouping of six taking under his GFP umbrella the three Independents -- Cabinet Ministers Rohan Khaunte and Govind Gaude, besides Sanguem MLA Prasad Gaonkar.
Sardesai also flirted with the move launched by the BJP central leadership to find an alternative to Parrikar to lead the government in Goa when he publicly announced the support of the ‘Group of Six’ for a non-MLA leader of the BJP as CM. Although on the record Sardesai put up a brave front at the Raj Bhavan ceremony on Monday and was all praise for the Cabinet reshuffle move, sources close to him said he is not convinced that it suffices to restore the image of the government.
“We are together under the leadership of Parrikar till 2022. The government will work with a Common agenda,” Sardesai told the media after the ceremony. He even lauded Parrikar’s leadership as ‘unique’ and an unanimous political choice who is holding the coalition together.
But with the questions over the CM’s health persisting, the source close to him said, Sardesai is upset that the functional stalemate within the government remains practically unresolved despite Monday’s cabinet shake-up.
