Reminiscent of two years ago when the BJP outsmarted the Congress in the Goa assembly by cobbling together an alliance despite the Congress winning 17 seats to the BJP’s 13, yet again the BJP has foisted young Pramod Sawant as chief minister to succeed the deceased Manohar Parrikar. This time, too, the Congress had more seats than the BJP but the ultimate victor was the BJP.
Evidently, the Congress lacked the ‘killer instinct’ and proved poor in winning friends from the opposition. The BJP, on the other hand, was pro-active and smart. In 2017, it was general secretary Digvijay Singh who was made the ‘fall guy’ and had to lose his control over Goan affairs.
This time around, if there is anyone who can be faulted for the Congress’ failure, it is party president Rahul Gandhi who cannot be publicly faulted lest some heads start rolling. The failure of the Congress is no less stark this time than in 2017.
When Sawant paraded 21 legislators before the Governor in the wee hours of Tuesday in a show of strength as against a mere three that the Congress-NCP alliance was able to present before Governor Mridula Sinha a couple of days earlier, the decision for her was all too clear. The result was that when a motion of confidence in Pramod Sawant came before the assembly, the BJP managed 20 votes as against a mere 15 of the Congress-NCP.
The strength of the 40-member House had been reduced to 36 following the death of Parrikar and BJP MLA Francis D’Souza, and resignations of two Congress MLAs Subhash Shirodkar and Dayanand Sopte last year. Clearly, the writing has been on the wall for over two years but the Congress has failed to do any damage control. It is as typical a case as can be of the disastrous showing of the Congress organisational apparatus.
Sawant and the BJP high command made sure that the supporting parties were duly rewarded with Sudin Dhavalikar of Maharashtravadi Gomantak Paksha (MGP) and Vijay Sardesai of Goa Forward (GF), being appointed deputy chief ministers.
Doubtlessly, Parrikar’s demise left a void in Goan politics but it was the BJP leadership that was instrumental in ensuring that power remained with the party. The Congress would indeed need to pull up its socks if it is to outsmart the BJP. Winning more seats through captive vote banks is really not proving enough.