Parrikar on edge as Congress wakes up

By taking oath as Goa chief minister, Manohar Parrikar has set the stage for the battle to ensure that the BJP retains control in the western state despite having secured four seats less than the Congress—13 against 17 in a House of 40 where the magic figure is 21. As of Tuesday, Parrikar had garnered support from the Maharashtravadi Gomantak Party (MGP) and the Goa Forward Party (GFP) with three MLAs each, and two independents. The Congress on the other hand had won 17 seats and has claimed support of the lone legislator from the Nationalist Congress Party and one independent. With the Supreme Court ruling that a floor test must ensue on Thursday and not within 15 days as the Goa Governor had originally envisaged, there is bound to be fresh jockeying by both sides to manoeuvre support. The possibilities of horse-trading can hardly be ruled out under such conditions.

While the BJP can be faulted for uncanny swift action of presenting its supporting legislators before the Governor and the latter’s seemingly undue haste is open to question, the Congress, which had an easier goal requiring only four legislators to reach the majority figure, showed an enigmatic lack of urgency to approach the Governor. The party’s high command was apparently gripped with a virtual paralysis after the decimation in the Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand Assembly elections. Only when it found that the BJP had stolen a march over them that Congressmen swung into action and the party activated its legal team to challenge the proposed swearing-in of Parrikar. While the Congress party succeeded in getting the trust vote date advanced, it could not prevent the oath-taking from taking place as the apex court refused to intervene to have it stayed. There was speculation over whether Parrikar would wait for the trust vote on Thursday but the former Union defence minister chose to go ahead.

It now remains to be seen whether the Congress would manage to thwart Parrikar’s bid to win the trust vote or whether the old warhorse would succeed in keeping his flock together. That six of the outgoing cabinet’s eight members including its chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar were defeated in the elections even as the Congress overtook the BJP tally does not hold out the erstwhile BJP government in good light. But that the BJP swiftly brought in Parrikar from the Centre was superior strategising. All eyes will now be on the trust vote on Thursday.