CONGRESS BID FOR KODEL DOOMED BY DISCORD

A panicky Congress High Command, apprehensive that more Congress MLAs will go the way of Isidore Fernandes, has asked party MLAs to quit en masse. But most Congress MLAs are adamant on holding on to their seats. If pushed they may even jump over the fence and join Isidore in the saffron pond. RAJAN NARAYAN reveals how the disunited Congress is hurtling towards its doom.

WHEN THE SENIOR Congressmen went to Delhi to attend the All India Congress Committee session they were told by the party President Sonia Gandhi and other senior leaders that the best response to the resignation of Isidore Fernandes would be for all Congress MLAs to resign en masse. It was pointed out to the Leader of the Opposition (LOO) Pratapsing Rane and the Goa Pradesh Congress Committee President Luizinho Faleiro that if Isidore Fernandes got re-elected to the Assembly on the BJP ticket it would tempt other Congress MLAs to desert the party. But the Congress MLAs in the state have been not just unenthusiastic but totally opposed to the idea of quitting.

When informally sounded out by senior Congress leaders the majority of Congress MLAs are reported to have rejected the suggestion outright. They posed two questions to the senior Congress leaders. What is the guarantee that we will be given tickets again? Who is going to fund our election campaign in case there is a mid-term poll? Congress followers as opposed to the leaders even went to the extent of pointing out that while the leaders had amassed huge wealth the followers had been reduced to mere bankruptcy because of a long period out of power.

Cover story . . . (Goan Observer, August 28-September 3, 2004)

Congress legislators also equally vehemently rejected a resolution mooted by the GPCC chief Luizinho Faleiro demanding the dissolution and the dismissal of the Manohar Parrikar government on the same grounds. Because dissolution of the Assembly would mean a mid-term poll. With no guarantee that the Congress would return to power. Or even if it did return to power it would last and would not collapse because of continued in-fighting among the senior leaders.

On the sidelines of the recent AICC session in New Delhi senior Congress leaders including the LOO Pratapsing Rane, the GPCC President Luizinho Faleiro, the former chief minister Ravi Naik and the South Goa MP Churchill Alemao had a meeting with Sonia Gandhi in the presence of the High Command observer for the state Margaret Alva.

At the meeting senior central Congress leaders apparently made the suggestion that all the 15 Congress MLAs should resign their seats in the wake of the abdication of Isidore Fern-andes to express their protest against the undemocratic and unethical ways of the Parrikar government. Goan Observer understands that all the senior Congess leaders from the state were unanimous in rejecting the suggestion. Indeed they were horrified by the prospect of losing any little bargaining power they had with the chief minister Manohar Parrikar. Most vociferousin opposing the suggestions that all Congress MLAs should resign was the LOO.

FACE SAVING DEVICES
THE SENIOR CONGRESS leaders who have been very strongly censured and castigated by the party President Sonia Gandhi for failing to persuade Isidore to stay back in the party have been desperately looking for face saving devices. But it is becoming increasingly clear that the Congress party in Goa is doomed and has wilfully forfeited any and every opportunity to displace the BJP-led coalition government in the state.

It is only beginning to sink into the psyche of senior Congress leaders in the state that Isidore’s abdication and his almost certain re-election to the Assembly as a BJP legislator has castrated the Congress party in the state. With the abdication of Isidore Fernandes the strength the Congress legislative party has been reduced to 15. Even if the Congress party is able to persuade, seduce or induce the four prospective brides - Sudin Dhavlikar, Filipe Neri, Micky Pacheco and Mathany Saldanha to extend support to the Congress the numbers will only add up to 19. In the 39 member house the Congress would need a minimum of 20 votes to topple the Parrikar government. The dream or fantasy of toppling the government will recede even further if Isidore Fernandes gets elected on the BJP ticket in the bye-elections scheduled for October 13. The strength of the BJP legislative party will go up to 20 from the present 19 which will make Parrikar ‘untopplable’. In a 40 member house the Congress would need 21 votes which it cannot muster even with the support of collaborators if Isidore is elected on the BJP ticket.

The senior Congress leaders in the state are pinning their hopes on the Supreme Court disqualifying two BJP MLAs Rajendra Arlekar and Pandurang Madkaikar whose review petitions are expected to come up for hearing on August 30 th . In fact Parrikar’s abduction of Isidore was a pre-emptive strike to safeguard his position. But even in the event the two BJP MLAs are disqualified it is exteremely unlikely that the Congress fantasies of toppling the BJP government will be realised. Filipe Neri and Sudin Dhavlikar may be willing but Mathany is unlikely to give up all the privileges that he is getting very rapidly accoustomed to.

Any hope of instigating defections from within the BJP which was a distinct possibility till sometime ago have been dashed by the amendments to the Representation of People’s Act. The amendment has dropped the entire section relating to splits. So much so even if two-thirds of the BJP legislative party is willing to cross over to the Congress it will not help. Under the amended law, the only way an elected legislator can change his party loyalties would be by resigning his seat as Isidore Fernandes has done. The only escape clause in the amended Representation of People’s Act is that mergers will escape disqualifications. But as we have pointed out earlier, even if the two factions of the UGDP and the MGP in the Legislative Assembly merge with the Congress the numbers will still not add up to the minimum necessary to topple the government.

OPTION OF DISSOLUTION
THERE IS OF COURSE the option of dissolution of the Assembly and dismissal of the government. With the Congress led coalition in power at the Centre and a friendly and willing Governor, the state Congress should find a favourable response to the demand for dismissal of Parrikar government and dissolution of Assembly. The Governor Jamir has already demonstrated that he would be very sympathetic to any demands for the dismissal of the Parrikar government. Indeed at the height of the Isidore Fernandes abdication drama, he is reported to have summoned the Poinguinim MLA and asked him if rumours of his intending departure from the Congress party were true. Isidore, advised by his new mentor and patron Manohar Parrikar, of course brazen-facedly lied to the Governor. He is reported to have told the Governor that, at that point of time, he had not made a decision.

But dismissal of a government is not all that easy even if the Congress party at the Centre and the Governor are waiting, willing and wanting to oblige. India is not a banana republic and there are clear cut provisions laid down. To secure the dismissal of a government in power, the Opposition would have to make out a strong case. Not that there are no grounds for demanding the dismissal of the government and the dissolution of the government. On the contrary, there are any number of grounds for the dismissal of the Parrikar government.

THE LURE OF THE CM'S CHAIR: The Congress MLAs are walking a tightrope to get there.

The former President of the GPCC, Nirmala Sawant points out, for instance, that the present GPCC chief could file a criminal complaint against Manohar Parrikar for allegedly offering financial inducements to Isidore Fernandes to quit the Congress and join the BJP. This would be very appropriate since the Chief Minister, Manohar Parrikar, had not only filed a criminal complaint but had engineered the arrest of a junior Congress office bearer, Kemblo Sawant, on the charge of bribing BJP MLA Vinay Tendulkar to defect to the Congress. But there is no possibility of this happening as senior Congress leaders including the GPCC President are closely colluding and collaborating with Manohar Parrikar to the detriment of the Congress party. Nirmala points out that Luizinho made no effort to stop Isidore. And in fact did not even attend a meeting convened by the GPCC to discuss the issue.

The dismissal of the government in power can be sought on the grounds of the sharp deterioration in the law and order situation. And incumbent government can be dismissed on the grounds that the Centre has lost confidence in the adminis-tration’s ability and willingness to maintain law and order. Since Manohar Parrikar took over there has been an alarming increase in the number of crimes against women and children. In fact the exposé by Tehelka on Goa having become a major destination for paedophiles could have been used to petition the Home Ministry that the state government could not even protect children and deserves to be dismissed.

IFFI INFRASTRUCTURE
SIMILARLY THE DISMISSAL of the government in power can also be sought on the ground of gross mismanagement of the financial affairs of the state. There is more than enough evidence that the GSIDC has been criminally irresponsible in violating all norms of financial prudence in awarding contracts not only to IFFI projects but to other mega projects in the state like the Ugem Bridge and other infrastructural projects. There is irrefutable evidence that the Parrikar government has violated both central PWD rules and Vigilance Committee directives in awarding contracts relating to IFFI projects.

There are more than sufficient grounds for seeking the dismissal of the Parrikar government. But the hitch is that a proper case has to be made. A well documented fool-proof indictment has to be prepared. But what do you do when senior Congress legislators including the LOO Pratapsing Raoji Rane prefer to collaborate and collude in the illegalities committed by the government. Though the LOO and two other Congress MLAs are members of the core committee of the IFFI and have attended over eighty percent meetings of the core committee meetings, they have refused to cooperate with the fact finding committee appointed by the GPCC to probe the IFFI scam.

Besides Goan Observer, even other sections of the media particularly Gomantak Times has been writing thundering editorials over the criminal insensitivity and irresponsibility of the Home Minister who is also the Chief Minister in dealing with crimes against women and children. For instance, the Gomantak Times, in an editorial on Wednesday, has pointed out that the police have got into the habit of routinely harassing and prosecuting parents and relatives of the victim in molestation cases instead of penalising the molesters. But you cannot expect either the Governor or the Union Home Ministry or the President to act on editorials and press notes. Unfortunately, unlike in the case of the courts, there is no provision in the constitution for the Governor or the President to take suo moto cognisance of press reports and convert them into PILs.

The bitter truth is that the Congress in the state is intent on committing hara-kiri. The bitter truth is that senior Congress leaders are just not interested in either the dissolution of the Assembly or the dismissal of the Parrikar government. In fact if the Congress High Command had compelled all Congress MLAs in the state to resign, the probability is that many of them would have joined the BJP and sought the BJP ticket in the next elections whenever they are held.

Given the fact that Congressmen are reluctant to quit en masse and are not too enthusiastic about seeking the dissolution of the Assembly the only hope for the Congress is to make the Herculean effort to defeat Isidore in Poinguinim. The Congress can do it if the party unites and the senior Congress leaders are willing to dip into their deep pockets to counter the money power of the BJP. If the Congress, with a lot of help from organisations like the Lok Shakti, could inflict a crushing defeat on the BJP candidate Ramakant Angle in the South Goa parliamentary polls they can repeat the feat in Poinguinim. And the defeat of Isidore will not only destroy the morale of the BJP but will dissuade the fence sitters from emulating Isidore’s example.

Does the Congress have it in them to take up the challenge? Or are they too doped on Parrikar’s crumbs? Only time will tell.

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