POWER REGAINED, FACE LOST
GOA CHIEF MINISTER MANOHAR PARRIKAR FACES AN UPHILL TASK IN THE FACE OF A LIMITED MAJORITY AND A WEAK ECONOMY
WWHEN THE AIR ASIA FLIGHT FROM DELHI TOUCHED down at Dabolim airport on the night of March 10, Manohar Parrikar resolved not to go back again. He was confident of taking over the reins as Goa chief minister for a third time. And on March 14, he did just that, taking oath of office with the backing of 22 MLAs—13 from his own party, the BJP, three each from the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party and Goa Forward, and three independents. However, he had by then lost both face and faith with the people who had long considered him a hero. Congress legislative party leader Chandrakant Kavlekar rushed to the Supreme Court challenging Governor Mridula Sinha’s decision to invite the BJP to form the government when it was the Congress that had won the larger number of seats—17 to the BJP’s 13 in the 40-member state assembly. The apex court, however, dismissed Kavlekar’s petition on March 14, observing that the Congress should have convinced Sinha of its majority.
Of course, the prize did not come that easily to Parrikar. He and Union transport minister Nitin Gadkari had to spend almost 16 hours, staying awake through the night of March 11, trying to convince the MGP, Goa Forward and the independents to help BJP form the government. A BJP insider reveals how personal relations and caste politics helped the duo get Sudin Dhavalikar of the MGP, Vijai Sardesai of Goa Forward and independent Rohan Khaunte—all of them Brahmins—on board. The other independent, Govind Gaude, too joined the BJP as the party had backed him in Priol constituency where he defeated Sudin’s younger brother Dipak. Another independent, Prasad Gaonkar, too supported Parrikar after Sinha appointed him the chief minister.
The government in Goa has always depended on New Delhi for funds. And that dependence grows when the state government does not have a majority in the House. That is why the allies have preferred to go with the BJP.
Earlier, the smaller parties would go with the Congress as it was the party in power in Delhi. Now, Parrikar has promised the new allies to use his clout in Delhi to get them more funds.
In addition to that, he will ensure that the ambitious Dhavalikar gets what he wants—charge of his favourite public works department. Dhavalikar had been friends with Parrikar’s bete noire Subhash Velingkar, the former Goa RSS chief who had floated the Goa Suraksha Manch (GSM) expressly to defeat the BJP. After Dhavalikar joined the BJP, Velingkar had only this to say: “MGP is an independent party. They are free to take any decision. We will continue our agitation against grants to English-medium schools.”
Parrikar has also made the three MLAs from Goa Forward, Khaunte and Gaude ministers. In a 10-member cabinet, only three are from the BJP. In lieu of that, the party will get to choose the speaker and deputy speaker of the assembly.
However, having formed the government, it will be a tough challenge for Parrikar to keep the flock together. Especially Sardesai, who is equally ambitious, and who was the most vocal of Opposition MLAs in the previous government, targeting Parrikar more than anyone else, calling him a “fixer”. He has joined the BJP against the wishes of his party president Prabhakar Timbale and many workers. But he had no choice. Had the Congress not ditched him by fielding its own candidate in Fatorda, he and two others would have joined the party to form the government. “I know even my partymen are upset with my decision,” says Sardesai,“but I have to respect the people’s verdict.”
In the past two years, Parrikar has acquired a reputation for his high-handedness in the party organisation and for failing to honor his commitments. He earned the moniker of being a ‘U-turn man’ after he reneged on his promises to stop aid to English-medium schools and to take casinos into the deep sea. Now, he will have to demonstrate that he is a man of action, not just words.
FOR INSTANCE, in the campaign for the assembly election, Parrikar had announced that the Union government’s housing-for-all scheme will begin first in Margao and Zuari Nagar. “You will see construction of houses begin in 2019,” he had said at Zuari Nagar. He will have to give this project priority now. He will also have to fast-track employment generation, encouraging tourism of different kinds, from eco, event, medical, heritage, religious, adventure to village tourism. The BJP, in its manifesto, had promised to set up non-polluting industries in pharmaceuticals, electronics, manufacturing and information technology. Parrikar will have to maintain a focus on these issues.
Goa is already losing 20 per cent of its revenue because of the ban on mining. Yet, the government continued to run social welfare schemes despite the big revenue loss. Parrikar will have to explore more options for revenue generation and revival of the economy.
Also, Parrikar might have stitched up a simple majority in the House, but his mettle will be tested in the assembly in the presence of the experienced Congress
MLAs in the Opposition. Five former CMs—Pratapsinh Rane, Digambar Kamat, Ravi Naik, Luizinho Faleiro and Churchill Alemao—will be backed by veterans like Dayanand Sopte, Subhash Shirodkar, Isidore Fernandes and Nilkanth Halarnkar who are back in the assembly after a gap of 10 years.
Meanwhile, the Congress needs to hold itself together, with six of its MLAs expressing their displeasure openly over the party’s inefficiency to stake a claim to forming the government despite emerging as the single largest party. There is already speculation that they might quit the Congress to join the BJP.
THE ELECTION RESULTS also show Parrikar’s magic to be on the wane. He had personally campaigned door to door for BJP candidate Subhash Fal Desai in Sanguem. The voters elected independent Prasad Gaonkar instead by 937 votes. Parrikar had also tried his best to contain Khaunte’s clout in Porvorim but failed to stop the dynamic independent from being elected twice from the same constituency. Khaunte has become the first independent candidate in Goa to win two successive elections. Parrikar had to induct Khaunte into his cabinet despite his tireless campaign against him.
The BJP’s tally in Goa has come down in the five years that have been the best for the state in terms of infrastructure development, social welfare and healthcare schemes. The first and biggest challenge for Parrikar will be to regain the confidence of the loyalist BJP voters, who have drifted towards the MGP and independents this time. The BJP had won 34.7 per cent of the votes in 2012 when it won 21 seats; in 2017, its voting percentage has come down to 32.9 per cent. The MGP’s vote share, by contrast, has gone up to 11.3 per cent from 6.7 per cent.
This happened mainly because Konkani-speaking Hindus, traditionally BJP supporters, were upset with the party for promoting English over Konkani. They chose to align with the MGP, which too has a base among the Hindus, and was in alliance with the GSM.
Goa Forward supporter Ramakant Kerkar says the BJP lost both over the issue of medium of instruction and its ministers’ arrogance. Parrikar admits that several BJP candidates faced strong anti-incumbency. “People were not unhappy with the BJP as a party but did not like several candidates,” he says. “In a small constituency, even 2,000-3,000 votes can change results.” Aware of this anti-incumbency, the BJP had imported candidates from the Congress in Mayem (Pravin Zantye), Cumbarjua (Pandurang Madkaikar) and Dabolim (Mauvin Godinho). All won. In Canacona, it denied sports minister Ramesh Tawadkar a ticket but paid for it as Tawadkar rebelled and helped defeat Vijay Pai Khot of the BJP.
Former CM Laxmikant Parsekar and three other prominent ministers—RajendraArlekar, Dayanand Mandrekar and Dilip Parulekar—were defeated. Parsekar paid the price of being aloof and allegations of land grabbing in the name of setting up Electronics City. While Arlekar was inefficient, Mandrekar and Parulekar were mostly known for their muscle power. Parrikar’s failure to replace them cost the BJP dear, especially in its bastion of north Goa. It had won 12 out of 21 seats here in 2012. This time it was reduced to eight.
In fact, had the BJP not fielded Catholic candidates, it might well have ended up with a single-digit tally. For the first time, the BJP will have more Catholic MLAs than Hindu ones—Francis D’Souza, Nilesh Cabral, Michael Lobo, Glenn Ticlo, Alina Saldanha, Godinho and Jose Luis Carlos Almeida make up seven of the BJP’s 13 MLAs.
Parrikar has often said he prefers Goan fish curry over Delhi’s butter chicken. The curry this time could well prove too hot to handle.