Madkaikar,
Babush to join BJP
Sandesh Prabhudesai
11 July 2003
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party is once again at its usual
tricks, this time to engineer defections within the coalition
partners.
Transport minister Pandurang Madkaikar, belonging to the
Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party and town and country planning
minister Babush Monseratte, of the United Goans Democratic
Party, will shortly join the 16-memebr BJP team in the 40-member
House.
The tourist state is presently ruled by the BJP-led coalition
with the three-member UGDP and two-member MGP partners, along
with water resources minister Philip Neri Rodrigues, an independent.
As the BJP could not achieve absolute majority in the mid-term
Assembly polls held in May last year, chief minister Manohar
Parrikar had to tie up with the anti-Congress elements. In
spite of gaining 18 seats, the Congress however could not
gather the magic figure of 21.
Madkaikar as well as Monseratte have almost confirmed their
intention to join the ruling BJP, though final announcement
is still awaited. Parrikar is reportedly still trying hard
to rope in PWD minister Sudin Dhawalikar, the second MGP person.
The BJP has never come to power in Goa in a clean manner,
but always by roping in the defectors, since the saffronites
started ruling the tiny coastal state from November 1999.
After winning only 10 seats in the May 1999 Assembly polls,
the Parrikar-led BJP joined hands with splinter group of 11
Congressmen, to form a coalition government led by Congress
defector Francisco Sardinha.
Within a year, the BJP withdrew support to Sardinha, to embrace
yet another group of Congress defectors, who joined the BJP
camp. In fact, Parrikar became the BJP's first chief minister
in October 2000 by admitting almost 11 defectors in the saffron
camp.
The assembly was then prematurely dissolved in February last
year by the BJP, to seek clear mandate that was unsuccessful.
After rising from 10 to 16 in the next Assembly poll held
last year, Parrikar is now once again trying to achieve the
magic figure of 21, by engineering defections in a similar
manner.
This attempt may help him in bringing near-stability situation.
However, the political circus may leave very few hardcore
Sangh Parivar saffronites in the BJP here, compared to the
'professional defectors' of Goa.
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