The portfolios are all distributed and the Chairmanships are all dished out. It is anguishing that the sweet coated crumb of a powerless Deputy Speaker was dangled before our MLA of Ribandar disrespecting that she, being the only lady MLA, did not deserve to be treated as a piece of rag.
In Goa we have a government and a Chief Minister that is dormant. Nothing seems to be moving in either direction. You cannot steer Goa holding on to the Chair with your legs on the brakes. It seems that the government is in a coma. Only the veteran surgeon Deputy Chief Minister Dr Wilfred De Souza can ascertain if this government is clinically alive. Pratapsingh Rane may have a passion for farming but he has definitely over the years reaped a bumper political crop. Mother nature has been smiling. Never a drought. As in the past, Rane has consistently been a compromise candidate for the position of Chief Minister. But can every decision be based on compromises? And at what cost? A Chief Minister has to have a grip of the State and not just cling to the now reclining chair. He has to be able to rule decisively and deliver for the welfare of the people. Goa cannot afford a lame duck Chief Minister as merely transferring and shoving officers around is not what good governance is all about. Rane has always benefited from internal Congress bickering. While others wrestled for the post, tight lipped Rane always emerged from behind and had the last laugh. Pratapsingh Rane has been his best at social and political diplomacy. As far as Goa is concerned, politically nothing has changed. Pratapsingh Rane and Manohar Parrikar have conveniently only swapped positions of Power. Rane while leader of Opposition was well catered for by a shrewd political manipulator, the then Chief Minister Manoharbab Parrikar. It is now large-hearted Mr.Rane's turn to reciprocate. There is no doubt that, a gentleman that he is, Mr Rane will be over generous in repaying Mr Parrikar for all the care and comfort the former Chief Minister took not only of Mr. Rane himself but also of his kin. That the Congress demonstrated utter political bankruptcy in electing Pratapsingh Rane as its messiah is not surprising. It is an irony that the same MLAs had been unanimously demanding Rane's ouster as Leader of Opposition for the last few years for having a fibre optic line of communication and a secret mutual understanding with the then Chief Minster Manohar Parrikar. Even a random blood check will reveal that there are no Congress blood corpuscles in Mr Rane who, through his political career, by his strategic and tactical moves has had the best of all times. He always turned a deaf ear to any Congress moves in recent years to dump him in central politics as he was obviously confident that the Goan political soil would be always fertile. Mr Rane's appalling and opportunist conduct as Leader of Opposition is unparalleled in India's recent history. He continued to be Chairman of a Government controlled body Kala Academy while his wife nursed yet another Government body the Bal Bhavan. Even when a Central Congress observer asked him to quit as Chairman of the Kala Academy, Rane refused to relent. What discipline can he now instill in his motley Ministers and straying MLAs? So Goa remains stalled. During Parrikar's regime, Mr Rane showed no signs of being an official leader of Opposition. Had the Congress not come to power at the Centre, Mr Rane would have officially definitely displayed his saffron colours. It is amazing that Chief Minister Pratapsingh Rane accuses Manohar Parrikar of doing nothing about Goa's garbage crisis. I humbly ask what Mr Rane did on this issue during his over a decade long tenure as Chief Minister. Yes, he had the daydream of making Goa a Singapore. Maybe that is the reason he kept Baina untouched and intact during his tenure. He never cared to raise vital and crucial issues while being Leader of Opposition. A review of the newspapers at the Central Library archives will prove that Mr Rane sat quieter than a mouse on all issues leaving the vibrant NGOs to speak out on Parrikar's misrule and bear the brunt of the former Chief Minister's vindictive and high-handed tactics. Let's not blame Parrikar for all that's gone wrong. As far as the recent flooding of the Kala Academy, the one man who should have taken his statutory responsibility is Pratapsingh Rane as he was the Chairman while the renovations were being carried out. That he abdicated this duty is a different question. Obviously he was holding this coveted post thanks to then Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar and the rest did not bother Mr Rane. It is time Goa's longest serving MLA, Chief Minister Pratapsingh Raoji Rane graciously moves on as Goa needs someone with the strength, will, power, the energy and above all the commitment to get Goa out of its current stagnant slumber. Goa's ills are more than garbage, stray dogs and the IFFI blues and let us hope Sonia Gandhi will step in and steer India's smallest state, out of the woods by bestowing on us a Chief Minister that can lead and deliver. Aires Rodrigues ___________________________________________________________ To help you stay safe and secure online, we've developed the all new Yahoo! Security Centre. http://uk.security.yahoo.com