Goa CM checkmates Oppn again Ervell E Menezes (The Tribune * New Delhi 18 Nov 2002)
[A bit of a dated report, but interesting.-FN] PANJIM, November 17 With the recent induction of the former Chief Minister and one-man Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Dr Wilfred D'Souza as the vice-chairman of the Goa Planning Board (Parrikar is chairman), Chief Minister Manohar parrikar continues to play his game of noughts and crosses with the Opposition and the same man who called Parrikar a back-stabber and communal is ready to pay obeisance to him. Some say it is because of a car with red lights. D'Souza, better known to Goa as Dr Willy, was believed to have been offered a governorship soon after Mr Parrikar was elected Chief Minister in June. But Dr D'Souza is said to have opted for Maharashtra and that was promptly refused. Not counting the elections in between, Mr Parrikar has been the Chief Minister for just over two years and he's as smooth as they come when it comes to checkmating the Congress. He may have bragged about not bing sure of what kind of majority (simple or two-thirds) he would win at the poll, but just scraped through by the skin of his teeth. 17 votes to the Congress 16. But he worked through outsiders and backed candidates like Anastasio Monserate and Micky Pacheco (both from the United Goans Democratic Party) to break the Congress stronghold in the South. These two were treated like untouchables when in the Congress. Mr Parrikar has also become wiser after his first stint as Chief Minister when he roped in as many as he could into the BJP, a strategy he probably picked up from Congressman Luizinho Faleiro who at one time had as many as 26 men in his party. But Mr Parrikar was saddled with perennial defectors like Ravi Naik, Suresh Parulekar, Sheikh Hassan, Ramakant Khalap and Sanjay Bandekar in his first stint. This time around he has, however, decided to gain their support from outside and stick to his time-tested hard-core RSS incumbents. Mr Parrikar may have a strong Saraswat Brahmin base but he is capable of cutting across party lines and caste distinctions to approach any candidate. That is his strong point and for him, the 40 MLAs are like pawns on a chessboard. Like the old fox, Dr Willy, he is equally at home with the Opposition, in this case the Congress, and his favourites are Mr Somnath Zuwarkar and veteran Mr Harish Zantye. It is a complex game that Mr parrikar is playing, but one thing he should fear is complacency. But in all this he is aided by a divided Congress, which has always been its own worst enemy. And the last decades have proved to be the worst for Goa, where corruption has become a way of life. Parrikar in that respect is much better. In fact, he has imbued an element of hope after the corruption spree. *** ########################################################################## # 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 # ##########################################################################
