There is nothing unethical in BJP forming govt in Goa: Manohar Parrikar

After winning the Supreme Court mandated trust vote in the Goa assembly, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar spoke to Murari Shetye on how BJP's new Goa coalition was formed and stole a march over Congress despite the latter's emergence as the state's single largest party, ethical questions raised by BJP's Goa moves and the challenge of managing political partners from disparate ideological backgrounds:

BJP is the second largest party in Goa with 13 seats in an assembly of 40 members. Were you confident of cobbling together an alliance to form the government?

I never tried to form the government with 13 seats. Support came from the coalition partners (MGP and GFP), who maintained that they were ready to lend their support and form the government if i returned. Accordingly, we moved ahead after getting approval from the BJP parliamentary board. So, you see, it was the other way around.

In fact, Vijai Sardesai (leader of GFP), in an interview to a local TV channel three days before the results, had made it clear that he would not support Congress and would not mind supporting me as the chief minister.

Hence, the manner in which the events unfolded (after the results) did not come as a surprise. It was along expected lines. The media was only trying to create news.

How will you assuage negative perception among people in the state that BJP's move to form the government was unethical?

I don't think that there is a negative perception among the people. It is only in the media. People have welcomed this government. While we did not get the numbers, we got 34.5% of the vote share where as Congress got 28% of the vote share. If you see the percentage mandate, more people are behind BJP.

This combination (BJP, MGP, GFP, independents) got more than 50.5% of the vote share and 22 seats. What is more important is that the people look at this government as a necessity for Goa. This is because their worry was that if Congress formed the government, the state would be totally looted over the next five years. They knew. So the people have welcomed us.

There is nothing unethical. The word unethical comes into the picture when you indulge in horse-trading of people from other political parties.
Here, every organisation in our government has supported the coalition. We are not borrowing from someone else. So first understand the logic of ethics and immoral things. In a hung situation, to form a governing coalition post-election is a necessity of democracy.

It is Congress party's bad luck that nobody is ready to trust them. First, they should introspect, because they were not able to decide on their leader.

Managing alliances is not easy, considering some of them come from different political ideologies. How will you manage the coalition partners?

I don't feel it is difficult to run this government, otherwise i would have not done it. I don't think ideologies are different among coalition partners. The way you look at it may be different. Basically all of us want Goa to be better and improved. We want the state to get better infrastructure and become golden Goa.

Giving more ministerial berths to non-BJP members has led to heartburn among party members. How do you plan to placate them?

There is no heartburn among our party's MLAs. It's the media that likes to create such news.

What is the vision of this government?

We will detail our vision in the common minimum programme. But people also need to see it. There are people who don't have a vision and there are people who have a very short vision. There are a variety of plans that we have for the state.

We want to save environment. We want infrastructure. Goa needs employment and for that the state needs skill upgradation of our youth. The education we are providing at present is not enough for skill development.

Regarding your return to state politics, last year you'd said that you are a king in Goa and prince in Delhi. How do you feel now when you are back in the saddle in Goa?

No, it is wrong. I didn't mean it that way. I had said that in your own place you are like a king, but when you go into an ocean you don't feel the same. Or you don't feel you are a king there.