Luizinho replaces Shantaram as PCC chief
SANDESH PRABHUDESAI, PANAJI | 09 April 1999 11:59 ISTWhile a tea party in the national capital few weeks ago sent political tremors all over the country, a luncheon meeting - held once again in Delhi - has shaken up the whole tiny tourist state here, thanks to dramatic changes made in the local Congress organisation.
AICC general secretary Madhavrao Scindia, also in-charge of the Goa desk, suddenly called all the top Congress leaders from Goa, obviously who keep on fighting with each other, on 7 April to discuss the election strategy. But it actually turned out to be the selection strategy of Sonia Gandhi.
Just before the top leaders could assemble at the dining table, Scindia took Goa PCC chief Shantaram Naik aside, to tell him very politely that he has been replaced by Luizinho Faleiro, the former chief minister, who could not run the government for even two months before the Goa Assembly was prematurely dissolved, imposing the President’s rule.
As everybody had finished eating, Scindia made the formal announcement of Faleiro’s appointment as well as appointing another former chief minister Pratapsing Rane, who could run his government for three and a half years by engineering series of defections, as the president of the pradesh election committee.
Churchill Alemao, another group leader and former COFEPOSA detenue, has been now appointed convenor of the PEC whereas yet another former chief minister Ravi Naik, presently the MP, will head the state election campaign while Francisco Sardinha, another MP, would be its convenor.
While nobody knows what these posts would ultimately mean and in what way it would benefit all these group leaders within the party, senior leaders here admit that the change in the PCC leadership has been made to woo the Christian voters, who can turn the tables in favour of the Congress, despite having a strength of hardly 30 per cent.
Faleiro camp however does not seem to be overenthused with the arrangement since the de facto PEC president’s post, which automatically comes to the PCC president, has been awarded to Rane, who is also Scindia’s close relative. It is thus still unclear who would have a major stake in deciding candidates - the PCC chief or the PEC president.
The local BJP leaders however claim credit for the sudden changes in the party which has ruled the state for over a decade. Congress chief Mrs Gandhi has tried to work out a crisis management programme, fearing that that the majority Hindu vote is getting polarised around the hindutvawadi party, claims a BJP leader
A senior Congress leader also admits that the high command should have done the arrangement in such a way, which could have also retained its Hindu voters rather than sending such communal signals, weakening its so called secular credentials.
The sudden change in the leadership has come as a surprise since the high command has bluntly refused repeated requests made by groups led by Faleiro, Alemao as well as both the MPs in this regard last month while closing the chapter by retaining Shantaram Naik, who was supported by Rane.
Following this, Naik had practically readmitted every Congress rebel back into the party fold while the opponents within the party had also compelled him to readmit other rebels, who are also vying for party tickets. It is thus a total confusion now while deciding candidature since every name would give birth to minimum one rebel candidate against the Congress in every constituency.
Meanwhile, a tug of war is still on within the Congress on the issue of readmitting another former chief minister Dr Wilfred de Souza, who had split from the party to form coalition government along with the opposition, by toppling the Rane government. De Souza however has denied the news, stating that he would go ahead with his plans to form a regional front of local parties.
