By Rajan Narayan

AND A few more stray thoughts and a few more observations for yet another Sunday. For a Sunday following the week when the group of seven demonstrated its electoral strength in the just concluded Zilla Parishad elections. For a Sunday following the week when Chief Minister Digamber Kamat showed signs of having developed some backbone and started hitting back at the group of seven. For a Sunday following the week when the ghost of merger or at least Maharashtrawadi hovered over Goa again. For a Sunday following the week when politicians in Goa were as agitated as politicians in the rest of the county over the passage of the Women’s Reservation Bill in the Rajya Sabha.

ELECTORAL CLOUT

AND a few stray thoughts on the group of seven rebel ministers and MLAs demonstrating their electoral clout. In the recently concluded Zilla Parishad elections, the biggest gainers were the group of seven. The Yuvraj demonstrated his personal clout by getting six of his seven candidates elected in the three talukas of Sattari, Bicholim and Sanguem. The Monster Rat from Taleigao not only managed to get his former PA, who he had appointed as the chairman of the Panaji Planning and Development Authority during his tenure as town and country planning minister, elected from Taleigao but also snatched St Cruz from Victoria Fernandes, who had defeated his worst three quarters in the Assembly elections. Mickky Pacheco rattled his arch enemy Churchill Alemao by not only hijacking the former president of the South Goa Zilla Parishad, Nelly Rodrigues, but managed to get her elected unopposed. In addition Mickky Pacheco outwitted Aleixo Sequeira in the two key segments of the Nuvem Assembly constituency.

It may be recalled that post delimitation the constituency of Loutolim has been replaced by Nuvem, which includes part of Aleixo Sequeira’s present constituency, besides incorporating large parts of Mickky Pacheco’s present constituency — Benaulim — such as Majorda and Betalbatim. The fight for the Nuvem Zilla Parishad seat was particularly fierce with both Mickky and Aleixo Sequeira sparing no effort to win the seat for their candidate. It may be recalled that on the day of polling, there was a clash between supporters of Mickky Pacheco and Aleixo Sequeira at the Fatorda stadium, where the ballot boxes were being stored.

NUVEM DHIRIO

MICKKY, who plans to shift to the new Nagao constituency, has proved his clout and his ‘winability’ by having Aleixo Sequeira’s candidate defeated in Nuvem. Mickky has also rattled both Francisco Sardinha and Reginald Lourenco by getting his candidate elected in Raia, which is an important segment of the Curtorim constituency. By doing so, Mickky has inflicted another blow on his bitter enemy Churchill Alemao, whose group Reginald Lourenco belongs to. To make things worse for the Congress in South Goa, Churchill supporters have won 16 of the Zilla Parishad seats and the probability is that the Varca chieftain will succeed in getting his candidate, Maria Rodrigues elected as the Zilla parishad chief for South Goa. Which is not particularly good for the Congress because though Churchill may now profess to be a staunch Congressman, he is basically a mercenary and is capable of ditching the Congress if he thinks it is to his advantage.

The group of seven’s dominance over the north is complete in that besides the victories of the candidates supported by the Sattari Yuva Morcha floated by Vishwajit Rane and the two candidates put up by Babush Monserrate, other members of the group of seven have also succeeded in getting both their BJP and Congress rivals defeated. The Dhavlikar brothers have proved their hold over their constituencies by getting their candidates comfortably elected. Similarly, Tivim MLA Nilkanth Halarnkar has also got his candidates returned in the Zilla Parishad elections. So much so, five members of the group of seven from North Goa — Vishwajit Rane, Babush Monserate, the two Dhavlikar brothers and the NCP member from Tivim — have all established that they have a very stronghold not only over their own constituencies but are kings and kingmakers in North Goa. Which is bad news both for the BJP and the Congress because the Zilla Parishad elections dramatise that it is the NCP, MGP and the two mercenaries who call the shots in North Goa.

MUSLI POWER

IN the south, the Mickky-Churchill combine have virtually wiped out the Congress, including stalwarts like Aleixo Sequeira. Filipe Neri Rodrigues, who was alleged to have distributed money to get his candidate elected, has succeeded in trouncing his rivals, but Neri is not strictly a Congressman and is a fresh entrant to the Congress like Churchill Alemao. The sweeping of the north by the group of five and the inroads made by Mickky Pacheco and the Churchill brothers in South Goa augers ill for Digamber Kamat, at least if not for the Congress. If it is any consolation, the BJP has also received a drubbing in the recently concluded Zilla Parishad polls. The outcome of the Zilla Parishad polls proves that it is money power and muscle power which play the most important role in politics in Goa. He who pays the piper calls the tune.

And a few stray observations on the perception that Digamber Kamat has not taken the ultimatum served on him by the group of seven very kindly. It may be recalled that after a meeting with NCP president Sharad Pawar in Mumbai, the group of seven made it clear to Digamber Kamat that all seven of them were together and that they would withdraw support to his ministry if any one of them was dropped from the cabinet. It may be recalled that due to pressure from Sharad Pawar and the speaker Pratapsingh Rane, the Chief Minister had to drop his plans to sack Sudin Dhavlikar and induct Pandurang Madkaikar into the cabinet. Digamber Kamat seems to have developed some backbone, as dramatised by the fact that he has taken on one of his chief tormenters, Mickky Pacheco.

DIGU OFFENSIVE

INITIALLY, Digamber Kamat did not take any action on complaints that Mickky Pacheco had illegally filled paddy fields owned by him. The accusation was that he had filled up the paddy fields without permission from the Town and Country Planning Department and without any conversion sanad. The TCP Department, which is controlled by Digamber Kamat, has been uncharacteristically tough on Mickky Pacheco. The TCP Department has not only issued a show cause notice to Mickky Pacheco, but also registered an FIR against the Tourism Minister for illegally filling up the paddy fields, even though they may belong to him. Digamber Kamat has not stopped at that, but also taking advantage of the protest by the media about the roughing up of media persons and photographers at the Fatorda stadium on counting day of the Zilla Parishad elections, a non cognisable offence has also been registered against Pacheco. I would not be surprised if the process of framing a charge-sheet in the long delayed case of extortion and cheating of the Majorda Beach Resort casino, which the crime branch has been sitting on, is expedited.

VULNERABLE

NOT just Mickky Pacheco, but other members of the group of seven are also vulnerable and may face Digamber Kamat’s wrath in the run-up to the budget session of the Legislative Assembly. The Dhavlikar brothers may seek to be tamed by framing a charge-sheet against Sudin Dhavlikar and his wife in the Margao bomb blast case. Not just the local police, but apparently the National Investigation Agency has also established that Sudin Dhavlikar and his wife were closely associated with the Sanatan Sanstha, which has been implicated in the bomb blast. Indeed, according to a report in some sections of the media, a case has also been registered against Sudin Dhavlikar for instigating an attack on those who were demanding the closure of the Sanatan Sanstha ashram in Ponda.

Babush Monserrate has already been charge-sheeted in the attack on the Panaji police station. Digamber Kamat might, in his capacity as law minister, also expedite and put on the fast track other cases pending against Babush Monserrate. It may be recalled that a case is pending against Monserrate for instigating an assault of Youth Congress workers who had protested against the Taleigao MLA’s opposition to the IT Habitat in Dona Paula. I understand that Victoria Fernandes is considering registering a case against Babush Monserrate for using money and muscle power to win the St Cruz seat in the just concluded Zilla Parishad elections. Digamber Kamat could also bring charges against Monserrate for misusing and abusing his position as Town and Country Planning Minister in relation to the mass conversion of agricultural and forest land that he facilitated in the discarded Regional Plan 2011.

YUVRAJ IN DOCK

VISHWAJIT Rane is also vulnerable because of the case pending against him of threatening the lawyer and social activist Aires Rodrigues. But of the group of seven, Digamber Kamat maybe inclined to avoid a confrontation with Vishwajit Rane as he would not like to antagonise Pratapsingh Rane. There are also indications from Delhi that Congress President Sonia Gandhi is none too happy over the dadagiri by Sharad Pawar, which led to the dropping of the reshuffle of the Digamber Kamat cabinet and the induction of Pandurang Madkaikar and Dayanand Narvekar in the place of Sudin Dhavlikar and Babush Monserrate. After, if not before, the budget session of the Assembly, Digamber Kamat may be directed by the High Command to carry out the reshuffle which had to be abandoned because of Pawargiri.

MERGER GHOST

AND a few stray thoughts on the revival of the ghost of Marathiwadi if not Maharashtrawadi. We are referring to the inauguration of the birth centenary celebrations of the first chief minister of Goa, Dayanand Bandodkar. Considering that Dayanand Bandodkar was the principal agent if not the architect of the diabolical conspiracy to merge Goa with Maharashtra, I cannot understand why the Goa government is celebrating the birth anniversary of Dayanand Bandodkar. It cannot be a coincidence that Ashok Chavan, the son of Y B Chavan — who was most vociferous about merging Goa with Maharashtra, was the chief guest on the occasion of the inaugural function of the Bandodkar birth centenary celebrations. The general impression is that it was Y B Chavan and other senior Congress leaders who promoted the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party and instigated Dayanand Bandodkar to demand the merger of Goa with Maharashtra.

Indeed when the MGP, with the help of a few independents, formed the government after the first elections held in Goa in 1963 both the senior Congress leaders in Maharashtra and the MGP government headed by Bandodkar demanded that the electoral verdict should be considered a mandate for merger of Goa with Maharashtra. In fact, Dayanand Bandodkar kept insisting that he was an interim chief minister till the goal of merger with Maharashtra was achieved. Later, after the then central government headed by Indira Gandhi decided to hold an opinion poll, coincidentally both the MGP-controlled Goa government and the Maharashtra government passed resolutions favouring the merger of Goa with Maharashtra. If the MGP was able to return to power after the Opinion Poll verdict against merger, it was not because of the popularity of Bandodkar and the MGP but because of the hara-kiri committed by Dr Jack Sequeira, who split the UGP. With 14 of the then 30 constituencies voting against merger in the Opinion Poll, a united UGP could easily have defeated the MGP and formed the government in the post opinion poll elections, in collaboration with the Indian National Congress.

KHALAP GIMMICK

WHAT is even more curious about the birth centenary celebrations of Dayanand Bandodkar is the fact that Ramakant Khalap, who was among the first senior MGP leaders to defect to bring down the then Pratapsing government in 1989, is organising his own private celebration of the birth anniversary of Bandodkar, which is distinct from the official celebrations sponsored by the government of Goa. Khalap has decided to organise a felicitation function for all the former colleagues of Dayanand Bandodkar, including Pratapsingh Rane and Proto Barbosa, but excluding Dayanand Narvekar. Never mind that Pratapsingh Rane and Dayanand Narvekar were never colleagues of Dayanand Bandodkar.

They joined the MGP during Shashikala Kakodkar’s tenure as chief minister and deserted the MGP to join the Congress party. Pratapsingh Rane was very lucky because he became the compromise choice for the chief minister’s post when the Congress came to power because of the dispute between Dr Wilfred D’Souza and Babu Naik for the chief minister’s chair. One can understand celebrating Dayanand Bandodkar’s birth centenary because he was a popular and charismatic chief minister. But why should his colleagues be felicitated on the occasion of Bandodkar’s birth anniversary? Khalap obviously wants to claim the legacy of Dayanand Bandodkar though it was he who destroyed the MGP driven by his own ambitions to become the chief minister.

WOMEN’S BILL

AND a few stray thoughts on why male politicians in Goa and the rest of the country are agitated over the passage of the Women’s Reservation Bill in the Rajya Sabha. At the national level, consequent to the additional reservations that maybe extended to women if the reservation bill is endorsed by the Lok Sabha, the number of open seats that can be contested by non scheduled castes or scheduled tribes men in the Lok Sabha will be only 282 of the total strength of the Lok Sabha of 543. The stipulation in the Women’s Reservation Bill that the seats reserved for women will be by rotation means that several influential male politicians who have made a career of politics will find themselves unemployed. Though they could of course get their wives, daughters and daughters-in-law nominated for party tickets, there is no guarantee that the electorate will accept the betis and bahus if they have not been active politically. In a feudal male dominated country, the male politicians are not very enthusiastic about the fact that women will call the shots in the Lok Sabha. This is dramatised by the fact that though all the major parties such as the Congress, the BJP and the Left have been swearing by reservations for women and supported the bill in the Rajya Sabha they have been very reluctant to field women candidates.

Like their counterparts in the rest of the country, male politicians in Goa are equally unhappy with the prospect of giving up 13 of the 40 seats to the fair sex. This is because if the reservations bill is passed by the Lok Sabha, it will also apply to state assemblies, which means that one-third of the seats in the Goa Assembly will be reserved for women. In addition, the probability is that at least four seats will be reserved for the scheduled tribes on the basis of the estimate that they constitute 12 percent of the population and proportionately four seats should be reserved for them. The consequence should be that 17 of the 40 seats in the Goa Assembly will be reserved for women and Scheduled Tribes besides the one seat reserved for scheduled caste at present. Not only the group of seven, but the entire male chauvinist brigade in Goan politics will lose their main source of income if the reservation bill is passed by the Lok Sabha. How much the politicians in Goa and political parties and the electorate in Goa love women is dramatised by the fact that there is only one women legislator in the 40-member Goa Legislative Assembly.