President's rule brings sigh of relief
GOANEWS DESK, PANAJI | 11 February 1999 17:30 ISTGoa is being brought under the President’s rule for the fourth time since its liberation in 1961, while people are feeling more relieved this time than ever in the past for their elected representatives not ruling the state any more.
Eyes are obviously set on elections now, which are expected by May end. The Congress has already decided to set the ball rolling by urging the election commission to hold it by May while the BJP expects it by first week of June.
In fact this is the third time central rule is imposed in Goa because of the political instability while the first rule in December 1963 was to hold a historical opinion poll the country has ever witnessed.
To decide upon whether Goa should be merged into Maharashtra or remain independent, Goa’s first Assembly under the rule of Maharashtrawadi Gomantak party chief minister Bhausaheb Bandodkar was dissolved. It was reconstituted again in April 1967, but still as the union territory, after Goa opted for its independent status.
The second central rule came in April 1979, when 17-year long rule of the MGP came to an end due to revolt within the party resulting into defeat of Shashikala Kakodkar government on a budgetary motion. It lasted for six months, after which the Congress started ruling the state.
After becoming a full-fledged state in 1987, the first state Assembly constituted in 1989 brought the central rule the next year as the non-Congress government formed with defections collapsed within 10 months. The Assembly was kept under suspended animation for one month till fresh defections took place, paving way for the Congress to come back to power.
The game of musical chair has been going on since then with the earlier term witnessing seven chief ministers in five years while the state witnessing three chief ministers in seven months due to defections and counter-defections during this term.
"It was most disgraceful and I feel sorry for being part of it", admits outgoing Congress chief minister Luizinho Faleiro. He even confesses that mere greed of politicians had lowered the prestige of Goans all over the country.
Dr Wilfred de Souza, who was tipped to be the coalition chief minister by engineering defections in the Congress camp within 68 days, however still blames the BJP, who refused to support any government at last minute. "Even I was planning to go for dissolution within a fortnight after taking over", he claims.
But the BJP still believes that de Souza had no plans to go for early polls but to join back the Congress by ditching all the opposition parties supporting him. They changed their earlier stand to support him because they did not want de Souza to remain a caretaker chief minister till elections.
Dr Kashinath Jalmi, the outgoing opposition leader of the MGP, feels bad that the state would be now run by bureaucrats, though he welcomes the President’s rule. But people at large however feel relieved with a hope that the bunch of greedy politicians would not rule the tourist state any more.
