When they all switched sides from the Congress to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) back in September last year, all eight of them had claimed it was ‘unconditional’ and a move they were forced to take to get work done and fulfill promises made to their constituents during the elections.
Four months later, however, five of the eight have been offered lollipops which they have ‘gingerly’ accepted, according to a tweeting bird often found flying around the trees in the garden of ‘Mahalaxmi’.
The give and take hasn’t been smooth though. In fact, one of the five, Rajesh Phaldesai, the legislator from Cumbharjua, threw a tantrum when he learnt that he was being made the chairman of the Sewerage Corporation. He is said to have picked up the phone and blurted out his frustrations at his pal, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant. The trick worked and Phaldesai got rehabilitated as the chairman of the Goa Rehabilitation Board.
The ‘malai’ from the sewerage corporation obviously is not very exciting. The chairmanship of the Corporation was also rejected by Mormugao MLA, Sankalp Amonkar, who has instead been made the chairperson of the Bal Bhavan.
Of the three other MLAs given a loaf or fish of office, only Saligao MLA Kedar Naik is seemingly satisfied with his lollipop -- the vice-chairmanship of the lucrative Goa State Industrial Development Corporation (GSIDC).
The other two, Delilah Lobo and Rudolf Fernandes, have accepted their lollipops very grudgingly. While Lobo has been appointed the vice-chairperson of the Entertainment Society of Goa, Fernandes has been accommodated as the chairman of the Human Resource Development Corporation.
It was quite a handful for Sawant to handle cranky lot but in the end, he managed to pull it off, our feathered friend has tweeted in our ears.
