ADEBATE was raging on whether Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar was legally and morally justified in wanting to induct Alina Saldanha, the widow of the late Matanhy Saldanha into the cabinet. Aires Rodrigues had filed a complaint with the Election Commission insisting that the induction of Alina Saldanha into the cabinet would violate the code of conduct, which prohibits the Chief Minister and the Government from taking any decisions which may favour the ruling party’s candidate after it comes into force. The question is not whether Manohar Parrikar has the constitutional right to include whomsoever he considers suitable in his cabinet. Under the constitution, it is for the governor of a state to decide who should be invited to form the government and be sworn in as chief minister of the state. Conventionally, the leader of the party or the coalition which has a majority in the Legislative Assembly is invited to form the government.

WHEN International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) submitted the final feasibility report on the proposed Mopa airport in 2005, it was made explicitly clear in the introduction itself that the new airport in Mopa would be feasible only on the assumption that all commercial operations at the existing Dabolim airport would be shifted to the new Mopa airport. In fact, even the shifting of all commercial traffic from Dabolim to Mopa would not in itself guarantee the break even rate of return of 16%, which would be essential to attract any private party to set up a Greenfield airport. The final feasibility study presented in 2005 also presumed significant and sizable revenue from air cargo, the diversion of traffic from the hyper busy Mumbai and Bangalore airports and revenues from ancillary activities such as a 200-room seven star deluxe business hotel, an international conference centre and a golf course.

CHIEF MINISTER Manohar Parrikar, who has been insistent that his government has zero tolerance for corruption, is strangely reluctant to act on a complaint filed by the Goa State Industries Association regarding the large scale loot and plunder of the Goa Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) by former chairman Chandrakant Kavlekar, in collusion with not only members of the Board of Directors but also senior officials of the organisation. The complaint was first filed by Shekhar Sardessai, president of the Goa State Industries Association, vide letter no PI/PAN/14941/2011 on October 8, 2011 and was returned by the police inspector of the Panaji Police Station claiming that no cognisable case was made out. The Panaji Police returned the complaint on October 9, 2011, just a day after the complaint was submitted, clearly dramatising that the police had not even considered it necessary to investigate the case before returning it, despite ample evidence being provided of criminal acts by the chairman and officials of the GIDC, causing huge losses to the public exchequer.

CHIEF MINISTER Manohar Parrikar may be faulted for his choice of ministers. It is inappropriate of him to have entrusted the Public Works Department portfolio to Sudhn Dhavlikar, whose record for corruption matches that of Churchill Alemao as the PWD minister. Whatever may have been the political compulsions, Sudin Dhavlikar has been given not one, but two heavy weight portfolios with the addition of the transport portfolio. Considering that the outcome of the elections to the Legislative Assembly of Goa has been seen as a mandate against family raj, justifiably there is anger within the BJP and concern among the voters of Goa over Manohar Parrikar also deciding to induct Deepak Dhavlikar into the cabinet when he expanded his ministry on Easter Sunday. Strangely enough, when Manohar Parrikar was asked about perpetuating family raj, he told the reporter concerned to pose the question to the Dhavlikar brothers. Which is absurd because, as chief minister, it is Manohar Parrikar’s prerogative to decide on who should be members of the cabinet and not that of the Dhavlikar brothers.

Discontent is brewing within the BJP over continuation of family raj and denial of cabinet berths to Catholic MLAs elected on BJP tickets.

ON THE eve of the 2002 assembly elections, the then excise commissioner, P S Reddy-acting on the orders of the Chief Electoral Officer of the state of Goa-suspended the liquor licenses of a number of bars and liquor outlets for violating the order to keep their establishments closed 48 hours before the commencement of polling and on the day of counting. Soon after the BJP formed the government under Manohar Parrikar, one of his colleagues Ramrao Desai, who was given the industries portfolio, went to the office of P S Reddy. Ramrao Desai was accompanied by owners of bars whose licenses had been cancelled by Reddy. At that time Reddy held many additional charges, which meant he had to hop from department to department. When Ramrao Desai walked into the Excise Commissioner’s office, his secretary, who was not aware that Reddy had returned to the Excise Commissioner’s office, told Ramrao Desai that Reddy was not in the office. Ministers and MLAs do not believe that they need an appointment to see bureaucrats whom they consider their personal servants and not public servants. Ramrao Desai pushed the door of the Excise Commissioner’s office and went in to find that P S Reddy was very much in his office, contrary to his secretary’s claim that he had not returned. This was a genuine misunderstanding. But despite P S Reddy explaining the situation to Ramrao Desai and receiving him with all the respect due to an MLA and a minister, Ramrao Desai was enraged and decided that P S Reddy had deliberately tried to avoid him.

ONCE UPON a time, a very vain emperor who professed great love for his mother and mother land Govapuri was ecstatic over the fact that 82% of the population of his motherland had reposed their trust in him to save the motherland. He decided to reward the people of Govapuri. He summoned them all for a grand meeting and declared “You have proved to the world that the power of voting and the will of the people always rules and prevails in a democracy. In all humility, I bow before you for imposing your faith in me. I promise we will do all that which is required for our motherland and this would be a fitting tribute for our beloved friend, Matanhy Saldanha, who loved his motherland more than anything.” Except that the emperor was only wearing a mask of humility and his talk of the motherland was as hypocritical as the talk of Adolf Hitler, when he was elected the chancellor of Germany, who kept invoking pride in the fatherland for his tyranny over the people of Germany and his ruinous lunatic schemes ostensibly for the glory of the fatherland. The hypocrisy and the mock humility of Manohar Parrikar’s so called dedication to the motherland and to the ideas of Matanhy Saldanha, who loved his motherland, is exposed by the fact that there is not a word in the budget about preservation and conservation of the ecology. There is not a word in the budget about the systematic destruction and degradation of the forest wealth of the state.

AT ROUND 1 am on March 21, 2012, Matanhy Saldanha complained of severe chest pain. Dr Oscar Rebello, who was his student in the Don Bosco High School, advised his wife to take him to Vintage Hospital and himself rushed there. He continued to have spasms. He was rushed to the Vintage Hospital in a private car as he was too critical to wait for an ambulance. At the hospital, Matanhy Saldanha, who had suffered from a massive heart attack struggled for life for almost two hours. A large team of doctors who were also ardent fans of Matanhy Saldanha made repeated efforts to revive him. Even though they knew that there was no escaping the grim reaper, Dr Oscar and the team of doctors refused to give up and kept trying to revive him. The end, according to Dr Oscar Rebello, came at around 3.30 am. Among the first to arrive at the Vintage Hospital when he was informed that Matanhy Saldanha - who had been re-elected from the Cortalim constituency on the BJP ticket and had been entrusted with the key portfolios of tourism, environment and forest - was Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar.

The Bharatiya Janata Party manifesto has offered all housewives in Goa Rs 1000 per month as inflation allowance, presumably to protect households against the ever increasing prices of items of essential consumption ranging from rice and wheat to dal to fish and coconut without which no curry is complete in Goa. Not to mention the cost of gas and vegetables, which also have been showing an increasing trend in recent times. According to the Department of Statistics of the Government of Goa, there are 3,24,000 households in Goa with every household having at least one housewife. We have arrived at the figure by taking into account the total population of Goa, which according to the 2011 census is 14.58 lakh. The economic survey conducted by the Department of Statistics tells us that the average household in Goa consists of 4.5 members. So much so, if you divide the total population of Goa of 14.58 lakh by the number of households and presuming that each household has an average 4.5 members there are 3.24 lakh house wives in the state.

JUST AS I was getting ready to dictate my response to the outcome of the elections to the Legislative Assembly of Goa, I got a message from someone very close to Digamber Kamat, who rightly characterised the verdict of the people of Goa as a victory for democracy. The verdict is certainly strong disapproval of the Congress party’s contempt for the voter and the obsession of the Congress High Command with ‘winability’. But at the same time it is not a verdict for the saffron brigade, as dramatised by the fact that the electorate has not given the BJP a clear majority in its own right. I am delighted that one of the most monstrous dynasties in Goa, the infamous Alemao dynasty which had extorted four seats from the Congress-NCP alliance, has been eliminated altogether. I am, however, anguished that Babush Monserrate and his side kick Pandurang Madkaikar have been returned to the assembly.