Who is the CM ? Depends upon 'offers'
GOANEWS DESK, PANAJI | 21 November 1998 12:29 ISTWith greed for power being the key word in Goa's politics, the issue of who would ultimately form the government now, for the third time, depends entirely upon the "size and weight" of the offers. The question of principles or peoples' welfare just does not exist.
Series of defections and counter-defections has once again thrown up a hung Assembly of only 40 legislators, with the ruling coalition left with only 19 while the Congress has staked claim to form the government with 21 members.
The picture of "original Assembly" soon after elections in November 1994 was little similar to this. The Congress had 18 members besides 12 of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party, four of the Bharatiya Janata Party and three each of the United Goans Democratic Party and independents.
Lots of water has flown through Mandovi river since then. The Congress is once again having 19 legislators with the strongman politician Churchill Alemao's UGDP MLAs joining the Congress, but six former Congressman still holding the power in the name of Goa Rajiv Congress. The MGP and BJP are still supporting Dr Wilfred de Souza's coalition government.
Crisis has erupted in Goa because a group of four GRC members, led by rebel leader Dayanand Narvekar, has joined back the Congress fold within three and a half months. All ten of them had split from the erstwhile ruling Congress party in July to end three and a half year rule of Pratapsing Rane.
Rane could provide "stable government" till recently only because four MGP men defected and joined the Congress way back in December 1994. Two each among them are today with the GRC and the Congress. Seventy-five year old Deu Mandrekar, the deputy speaker, has defected for the third time after getting elected as the MGP MLA, to the Congress, the GRC and now back into the Congress.
Today's Congress, which is eagerly waiting for the governor's decision after staking its claim, is having four MLAs who have defected once, three who have defected twice while one Mandrekar who has a record of defecting thrice. Even de Souza's GRC is having four one-time defectors and two "double defectors".
"Split is always auspicious", claims Congress' high command observer Govindrao Adik while justifying Sonia Gandhi's decision to readmit the four rebels back into the party fold. Narvekar, the rebel leader, proudly states that he had proved that he can form and dislodge any government if he is humiliated.
The game of toppling is also not a new phenomena in a tiny tourist state as the politicians here roam from one party to the other as tourists. The last term, from 1989 to '94, had witnessed seven chief ministers in five years with Alemao being the chief minister for only 19 days and North Goa MP Ravi Naik being the CM once again only for seven days.
With such an "industrious" background of Goa's greedy politicians, who have always defected to seize ministerial berths, the fate of de Souza's coalition government depends entirely upon whether he can offer better deals than the Congress to the three independents in his cabinet.
Though two independents are presently in the Congress camp while one is "absconding", the GRC sources reveal that all three of them may be inducted into the de Souza cabinet, once the chief minister returns from his half-left London trip.
The Congress, on the other hand, is wooing more GRC members into their camp though sources disclose that internal squabbles have already begun among them since few former Congress ministers would be left out from the cabinet, to accommodate the new entrants.
The Congress however appears to be having a plus point that two strong mine owners, having close relations with the Reliance Industries, are footing the bills of five star hotels and providing "additional help" to form the government, though the Congress has vehemently denied the charge.
The advantage de Souza however is having is the five vacancies in his government, including three ministerial berths with the Narvekar group quitting and of the speaker and the deputy speaker.
While it appears that Governor Lt Gen (Retd) J F R Jacob would leave the whole issue to the Assembly, summoned on 2 December, to prove de Souza's majority on the floor of the House, Goans hope that President's Rule is imposed, paving way for fresh elections rather than such greedy games.
