It was a brawny display of political muscle last weekend. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party stretched itself to muster a show of strength to kick-start its campaign for the 2024 Lok Sabha poll and re-capture the South Goa seat it lost in 2019. With its electoral strategist in chief and Union Home Minister Amit Shah leading the charge, what better would the ruling party hope for?
But more than its campaign for next year's Lok Sabha elections, the Shah rally at Farmagudi gave a boost of sorts to Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, who despite a brutal majority owing to last years defection of the eight Congress MLAs, does face challenge of sorts to his leadership from the constant shadow boxing from his chief competitor and no. 2, Vishwajit Rane.
Shah is not known to shower praise on State-level leaders of the BJP. Yet on Sunday at Farmagudi, he laced his speech with fulsome praise of Sawant, who he said displayed courage and grit to lead the BJP's charge in the 2022 Goa assembly elections and ensure a full majority government of the party is formed. It certainly was a shot in the arm for Sawant and a bolt from the blue for Rane and Co.
Yet, it wasn't the Chief Minister who turned out to be the show-stopper at the Farmagudi meet. Rather, it was home town boy Ravi Naik who stole the show with his one-liners which has left many a political observer wondering what the old Ponda warhorse was really up to.
Exhorting the crowd to chant the BJP's favourit war cry "Jai Shri Ram" Ravi followed it up with a new coinage "Jai Sitaram" making it a point to stress that 'Sitaram' which is his middle name is his father. He didn't stop at that and followed it up with a "Jai Ravi" gesturing his hands towards himself, to underscore that 'Ravi' meant him although he than pointed to the sun which in Hindi is referred to as 'Ravi'.
Many interpret Ravi's comical one-liners as idiocracy, the kind he came up with when he claimed exporting raw water to the desert kingdoms in middle East could be a money spinner for Goa. But there are others who claim that the former MGP, Congress and now BJP politician had a hidden message in his Sunday outbursts -- Ponda is about me (Ravi) -- at a time when a long time political foe and strongman from the taluka Sudin Dhavlikar happens to be on the same side of the fence as him.
Cong beats Mhadei drum to trip BJP, Shah
While Amit Shah and the ruling BJP were flexing muscles at Farmagudi on Sunday, the beleaguered Congress held a few black flag demonstrations in a bid to trip the Union Home Minister and the ruling party by beating the emotive Mhadei drum.
Depleted after its legislature party split and eight of its eleven legislators crossed over to the other side, the Congress gathered its footsoldiers and sought to bring to the fore the dichotomy of sorts faced by the saffron party to balance between Goa and Karnataka on the vexed Mhadei river sharing issue.
Its media cell head Amarnath Panjikar cried foul claiming that Congressmen and leaders were illegally prevented by the police from going to Ponda. He claimed that GPCC president Amit Patkar and others were detained in Corlim near Old Goa.
Some other Congressmen, including former GPCC president Girish Chodankar and the newly appointed State Youth Congress president and CCP councillor Joel Andrade, managed to reach the Ponda bus-stand where they demonstrated with black flags to protest what they claimed was Shah's and BJP's betrayal of Goa's interest in favour of Karnataka's on the Mhadei issue.
What however stood out was the absence of the party's three legislators -- LOP Yuri Alemao, Carlos Alvares Ferreira and Altone D'Costa.
G20: where there's a will, there's a way
The first of the G20 meetings Goa is set to host is done and dusted. But the alacrity with which the State administration went about asphalting and hotmixing some of the roads in the capital city had many residents in shock and awe. In fact there was one road between the four-arm junction at the old Education Department building running down to the CCP market complex which was lying in shambles due to the ongoing Smart City works.
However, a Ministry of Health facility located in one of the buildings along this road was picked for a impromptu visit by the G20 delegates. Overnight the administration swung into action and a hotmix carpet was laid on the entire stretch of road in a single night. Indeed the administration proved that where there's a will, there's a way.
Now that the G20 meet is over, the capital's residents, who have been eating dust literally for over three months amidst excavated roads, will be keenly watching if the same will continues to persist in the administration and the other city roads too get hotmixed to end their misery.
