ISIDORE: IF I GET A MINISTERIAL BERTH, I WILL WELCOME IT

In an exclusive interview to GOAN OBSERVER, Isidore Fernandes, the Congress Member of the Legislative Assembly, attributes his decision to join the Bharatiya Janata Party to his frustration with the Congress party and its leaders and their style of functioning.

GO: What made you join the BJP?

Isidore: My frustration with the Congress party and its leaders and their style of functioning. Since the past two years there were hardly any development activities taking place in my constituency. It is a known fact that there are many in the Congress aspiring to become Chief Minister. I found it fit not to live in a house where a brother fights against a brother. That apart, the thing of paramount interest to me was the development of my constituency which, in the present set up, had virtually come to a stand still.

GO: Parrikar reiterates that development in all of the constituencies will be equal, not withstanding whether the constituency belongs to the ruling party or the Opposition. What are your views on this?

Isidore: Let me be frank. It is the system and the style of functioning by every successive government not only in Goa but also all over the country. The constituency represented by the opposition gets the kick of the worst kind.

GO : What were the demands you placed before joining the BJP?

Isidore: All round development of Poinguinim which today stands as one of the most backward region of the State. Water, roads, electricity and jobs for the unemployed.

GO: Did you demand a ministerial berth?

Isidore: No. Let me get re-elected first. There will be no demands for a ministerial berth, but if it comes my way at any given time, then I will welcome it.

GO: There are rumours that you joined the BJP because you were offered Rs three crores? Is this true?

Isidore: I am taking the risk of resigning as MLA and then trying to get re-elected for the development of my constituency and not for any pecuniary gains. Nobody has come to me with any offers and I have not taken even a single rupee from anyone.

GO: The BJP is known to be communal and the minorities shy away from this party. You being a Christian have taken the step to support the saffron brigade. Will the people from your community lend support to you in your future endeavours?

Isidore: The people hailing from my community inthis constituency are a miniscule minority. Yet, I get repeatedly elected. If communalism was in the minds of the people of the constituency then I stand no chance of getting elected. So is the case of my predecessors.

I have not clubbed communalism with development. If the BJP were communal then they would have not welcomed me to their party fold. I agree that there are some workers in the BJP who have communal links but with secular people like us joining the BJP, things will definitely change.

GO: It is learnt that you were very disillusioned with the Congress party and took this step? Can you elaborate on your experience with the Congress leaders?

Isidore: Look at the debates in the Assembly sessions. There was no unity among the senior Congress leaders. They posed questions only for namesake while others remained as mute spectators. The final blow was delivered by MP, Churchill Alemao. His recent statement that the best option was that of dissolution of the Assembly and that his claim that any other alternate government formed would not last for even six months made me take this decision.

GO: Parrikar is known as a person who uses people and ditches them after they are of no use to him. Do you not fear that you too will meet the same fate?

Isidore: I will not fear as long as the people and my voters are with me.

GO: Speculations are rife that after the delimitation exercise, Poinguinim constituency will be eliminated and will be joined with Canacona constituency. In the next election whom do you think the BJP will allot the ticket? To you or to Vijay Pai Khot, the sitting MLA from Canacona?

Isidore: I have not demanded for the ticket. The people are the ticket. The BJP, the Congress and other parties issue tickets to candidates in all 40 constituencies. It is not the party that decides who gets elected. It is the voters. They decide.

GO: In 1999, you got elected as an independent candidate and in 2002 you opted for the Congress ticket and won the elections. You were also offered the BJP ticket but declined the offer. Do you regret that decision you took?

Isidore: Yes.

GO: What were the developmental activities you undertook during the last two years by being in the opposition?

Isidore: The routine cosmetic and lipstick work. Nothing great to mention of; unlike what I did from June 1999 till February 2002.

GO: Are other opposition MLAs suffering from lack of development activities in their respective constituencies?

Isidore: You ask them.

GO: Are some other MLAs from the Congress ready to follow your footsteps, that of joining the BJP?

Isidore: Politics is like a game of kabaddi and the leg pulling tactics take place to dethrone each other mostly from the ruling benches. But sad to say, in this instance, it is not happening in the ruling benches but within the Congress amongst the senior leaders which has left the junior MLAs bewildered and a confused lot. There are many leaders in the Congress and the few followers feel like orphans.

GO: Who are they?

Isidore: I don’t want to name them. The people know it all.

GO: Senior Congress leaders rushed to your residence at Loliem and persuaded you to defer your decision. What type of assurance did you got from them?

Isidore: They asked me to wait and not to take any decision at the moment. But my supporters whom I had meetings with gave me no other option but to leave the Congress and join the BJP. I had to toe the line of the voters and the workers. It is they who decide my fate. I had to oblige their wishes.

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