The Hindu : Goa CM stages a neat coup

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Sunday, Mar 03, 2002

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Goa CM stages a neat coup

By Our Special Correspondent

PANAJI March. 2. It was nothing short of a coup that the BJP Chief Minister of Goa, Manohar Parrikar, did the other day.

He stunned everybody including the opposition Congress, by taking recourse to the unorthodox way of finding a way out of the political instability which has been stalking Goa.

Instead of managing the situation somehow, as had been done by his predecessors similarly placed, Mr. Parrikar, went in for the dissolution of the 40-member Assembly, which had just crossed the halfway mark of its five-year tenure and sought to test his political fortunes in the next hustings, which in all probability could be held before the onset of the monsoon.

Goa is used to a fractured mandate in every election held since it became a State in 1989. And the corollary of it has been the procession of the Chief Ministers coming and going out of the office through the expedience of defections.

Mr. Parrikar came to power 16 months ago through this route only. He did not want to go the way his predecessors went from office. He chose to seek a fresh mandate from the people rather than give a handle to the Congress, which was baying for his blood in an undisguised fashion to upset his political apple-cart.

The Congress went to the polls with its own Chief Minister in 1999 and managed to retain power by a whisker of majority in the 40-member House. The fragile nature of the arrangement took its toll when the party Government led by Luizhino Faleiro fell within five months, with 11 MLAs trooping out of the party.

Next to come was Fransisco Sardinha, a senior Congress member, who had led the deserters. He formed the Government with the help of the BJP and the Maharashtravadi Gomantak Party. The denouement came within 11 months, with as many as 13 Congress MLAs, both of the original stock and among the deserter, deciding to leave even as the Chief Minister was away in Australia.

Entered Mr. Parrikar, a product of the IIT Mumbai, who was catapulted as the Chief Minister without having held the office of Minister earlier. The first- ever BJP Ministry in Goa assumed office on October 24, 2000, though by proxy. Having failed in its resolve to win a mandate, it took advantage of the political promiscuity that had been the hallmark of the Congressmen in the State.

Right from day one, the political watchers had begun to count the days for the Parrikar Ministry, the political chemistry of Goan politics having become crystal clear. Mr. Parrikar, with his unorthodox ways, deftly steered clear for 16 long months, which is to be considered as a feat in the context of the mercurial nature of the State politics. And ultimately threw in the towel on Wednesday, February 27, when he quietly went to the Governor recommending the dissolution of the House and seeking fresh elections within 90 days.

Though Mr. Parrikar put on a brave face to say that the recent success of the party in the panchayat elections had prompted him to seek a fresh mandate, the grapevine had it that cracks had begun to appear in the ruling combination and among those who were considered vulnerable to defection happened to be his own partymen. And Mr. Parrikar did not want to take the risk.

By taking the calculated action, he has managed to remain in power when the polls take place and has been able to put on probation all those whose loyalty had been suspect.

What made Mr. Parrikar to take the gamble was the good reputation that his administration had built during its reign.

The canker of corruption which was stalking the corridors of power had been contained, and action taken against corrupt politicians.

For the first time, finances had begun looking up for Goa, which was used to scrape its bottom for its survival and depend on government doles. As he himself put it in a chat with newsmen recently, there had been a buoyancy in the revenue.

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