Battle scary Babush exits Panjim (Herald Editorial) Babush Monseratte has decided to exit from the race for Panjim even before he has entered it. So what was the fuss all about? Was it just a show of bravado that Panjim would be a natural pit stop after Taleigao since there is very little to differentiate between the two places?
Was it just a ploy to win the CCP elections, on the bandwagon of development? Was it a move to keep Panjim and Taleigao within the family and have a friendly ‘mami’ in St Cruz with whom he hugged, kissed and made up? Or was it just a pressure tactic to get a lucrative urban development department, since education was not good enough? The truth is that that the answer is none of the above. Babush Monseratte has one amazing ability that needs to be inculcated in the bloodstream of not just politicians, but anyone who dreams of going up in public life. To sense opportunity and pull out of potential disasters. If there ever was a political SWOT (Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analyst, who could walk into a business school, it has to be Babush Monseratte. And the reason he backed out, as analysed in detail in our front page story in this edition, was because he saw disaster looming in Panim because he knew he couldn’t deliver. The difference between Taleigao and Panjim is simple. In Taleigao, when a young Monseratte played cricket matches, he would hate to get out and very soon, as he grew, his playmates realised that letting him play even if he got out, was a good option. It kept him happy and he kept everyone happy. Taleigao to this day remains his cricket field. It’s not that he does not know that he sometimes does wrong. More importantly he knows that if he does do wrong, it’s ok. Panjim, technically next door, is a different pitch altogether. He needs to play good and play straight to be in the game. In a situation where he will be judged on real merit and not just cosmetic changes, Monseratte fled. It’s smart decision. A good SWOT analyst will create opportunities out of any situation. In this situation, he realised that if he made a virtue of him moving out, the least that he would get back would be gratefulness, because like it or not, Monseratte’s presence would have made Parrikar devote that much additional time, energy and yes, money, to his Panjim campaign than he would do now. By deciding not to contest, Monseratte has not done himself a favour, but has indirectly done BJP a huge one. Monseratte will not be Panjim MLA, but with Taleigao in his pocket and Parrikar soft towards him, Monseratte may well go into kingmaker mode post the elections and carve out portfolios and positions for himself in any government cobbled together. That is typical Monseratte. He doesn’t want to be perfect, because perfect is the enemy of good. He just wants to be god enough to be in power. But why did Babush actually walk out before he walked into Panjim. Although his panel came back to power in CCP, the margin of victory was very thin, which did not give Babush any hope of victory in assembly elections. Also, the fact that Babush lost in two wards in Taleigao itself played on his mind. Secondly, Panjim witnessed a major garbage crisis after the Taleigao panchayat refused to take Panjim’s garbage. The residents of Panjim severely criticised Babush for the situation, as his wife is the sarpanch of Taleigao, and they said that the crisis was manufactured by Babush to get the urban development portfolio. Most importantly, development did not take off. Despite clear orders to the CCP mayor Yatin Parekh to complete all development work in Panjim by September, things could hardly materialise. Panjimites are also peeved at Monseratte giving a backdoor entry to the controversial Uday Madkaikar’s wife by co-opting her, after dropping her husband from his panel on charges of corruption. Monseratte, in the light of these realities, has simply gone back into the comfort of Casa Taleigao, his real one to plan his next move. With Babush you never know. He could still be playing host to 20 odd MLAs at Casa Monseratte including the next Chief Minister of Goa. Sadly, these are realities we live with. Source: http://www.heraldgoa.in/newscategory/Edit/15
