The circus which began in the last week of January continues. Digambar Kamat, the former Vice-President of the BJP and the unofficial former Deputy Chief Minister has no doubt submitted his resignation. But at the time of writing, the Speaker was absconding and has not yet accepted the resignation. It is almost certain that the Speaker will disqualify the independent MLA and Deputy Chief Minister Filipe Neri before a trust vote gets underway on February 28 2005. In theory, with the resignation of Digambar Kamat and even if Filipe Neri is disqualified, the Congress should be able to win the trust vote. Legal experts claim that both the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker cannot resign simultaneously. Since both belong to the BJP, one of them will have to occupy the Speaker’s chair. Which means the United Legislative Party should scrape through the confidence vote.

 But there are many slips between the lip and the cup of victory that the Congress hopes to savour. There were rumours on Friday that Congress stalwarts Subhsah Shirodkar and Ravi Naik would resign and join the BJP. There were rumours that Ravi Naik had been offered the chief ministership by the BJP. There was an even more bizarre rumour doing the rounds. A rumour probably floated by Luizinho Faleiro himself that the Speaker Vishwas Satarkar was all set to desert the BJP. The rumour was explicit in detail and claimed that Avishwas Satarkar had demanded the Transport portfolio as his pay off. Which would make the existing Transport Minister Pandurang Madkaikar extremely unhappy.

 It is clear that a psychological war of nerves is being launched by both sides. All kind of meaning is attached to the absence or presence of leaders from both sides. For instance, the rumours about Subhash Shirodkar and Ravi Naik got reinforced because they stayed away from the Legislative Assembly on Friday when Digambar Kamat waited almost the whole day for the Speaker to arrive and accept his resignation. A lot of motives are being imputed to the fact that the Speaker kept away from the Assembly Complex on Friday and could not be contacted. It was this that fuelled suspicions that the Speaker, like Proto Barbosa before him, might take the defection route. With all the rumours and counter rumours and uncertainty about what the Speaker would do on Monday, the 28^th, no one know if the trust vote would go through or whether there would be a trust vote at all. Significantly, the Speaker has reportedly barred the electronic media from covering the proceedings. A case of once bitten, twice shy.

 The people of Goa are totally disgusted with the goings on in the Legislative Assembly. They are disillusioned both with the BJP and the Congress. If there were a third alternative, the citizens of Goa would probably opt for it. Neither the MGP nor the UGDP seem to have adequate credibility to be the third alternative. And the Lok Shakti which has raised high hopes is dragging its feet about converting itself into a political party. Do the Lok Shakti and the Goa Su-Raj Party have the potential to become a third alternative? It is difficult because neither party has a mass base. It is clear however that Goa needs a third alternative to the communal, conniving BJP and the corrupt, opportunistic Congess.

 RAJAN NARAYAN