The Editor, Esq. GOMANTAK TIMES Panaji, Goa. Apropos your edit of June 9, you state that you do not know whether my "insinuation" that Parrikar was "instrumental for Luisinho's new posting" (re: 'Master stroke by Parrikar,' GT June 4) was a joke.
I neither said, nor insinuated by what I said, that the GPCC appointment was Parrikar's doing or that it was engineered by him. Or even that Parrikar had struck "a compromise" (your words) with Sonia Gandhi, or that the appointment was not purely an internal Congress phenomenon. What I said and meant was that the CM must be complimented for getting a person like the appointee as the opposition party's head of organization -- that after taking care of the CLP, such an appointment (by Sonia Gandhi, of course!) would automatically boost the BJP's electoral prospects in Goa, to a clean 28 the next time round. That is certainly not a joke. I know a good number of Congressmen and leaders themselves who share that opinion (privately of course). The general feeling is that, had Sonia Gandhi instead chosen a fresh, untainted and non-controversial partyman to head the party organization here, it should have done her party plenty of good. The obvious inference of my letter was, that Parrikar is far too smart and knows perfectly how to exploit the weaknesses of ALL the corrupt guys who abound Goa's political matrix to his party's advantage. I was not complimenting him for Luizinho's appointment, I was complimenting Parrikar for the foregone electoral consequences of that appointment. That said, I must take this opportunity to say that I do highly appreciate your editorials, the contents and the language. But then, how else could one expect to regard the opinions and writings of one of the seniormost English working journalists of Goa? My compliments to you and please keep up the good work of spurring debate. Valmiki Faleiro Margao, 9th June 2003. c.c: GoaNet and The Goan Forum. ########################################################################## # Send submissions for Goanet to [EMAIL PROTECTED] # # PLEASE remember to stay on-topic (related to Goa), and avoid top-posts # # More details on Goanet at http://joingoanet.shorturl.com/ # # Please keep your discussion/tone polite, to reflect respect to others # ##########################################################################
