Goa's 'tourist' politicians
Sandesh Prabhudesai
13 March 2002
With election fever gripping Goa once again
in just 32 months, the main issue before the voter is how
many 'loyal politicians' will be ultimately left in the
race, no matter which party ticket they contest upon.
The tourist state has otherwise witnessed
a game of 'tourist politicians', who roam from one party
to another like a tourist in Goa roams from one beach to
another, while people also greet them without any malice.
The tiny state of 40 Assembly seats is
going for Assembly polls once again, with the ruling Bharatiya
Janata Party going for dissolution, claiming to have been
going to seek fresh mandate.
Govind Parvatkar, one of the state BJP
general secretary, has however already admitted that they
went for dissolution under Art 174 (2) b of the constitution,
fearing another split within the ruling BJP, which would
have been thrown into minority within 16 months.
This is the third government in last 32
months. The first Congress government could rule only for
seven months in spite of electing them to power in June
1999 polls. Eleven Congressmen revolted against then chief
minister Luizinho Faleiro, who had also engineered three
defections of five legislators to strengthen his position
earlier.
The coalition of the splinter Congress
group and the 10-member BJP, headed by rebel leader Francisco
Sardinha, could however rule for only 11 months. The saffron
party withdrew its support to Sardinha and formed its own
full-fledged government by joining hands with another group
of rebel Congressmen, who ultimately joined the BJP.
At the time of dissolution, the Congress
strength was reduced from 26 to 14 while the BJP rose to
21 from the ten members elected by the Goan electorate,
thanks to series of defections and splits the tiny state
witnessed in just 32 months.
The state has witnessed 13 splits since
June 1999, involving 34 legislators, most of who have split
at least twice. Among the 40 members, there are only 19
left who perhaps did not get an opportunity to defect, as
the Assembly was also dissolved prematurely.
In fact, eight of the defectors have completed
the full circle, to join back the Congress, the party they
belonged to at the time of last Assembly polls. A cartoon
in one local newspapers in fact termed them as the 'most
loyals', since they came back to their own party after joining
all sorts of parties and groups and enjoying ministries
there.
Besides the BJP and the Congress, the dissolved
Assembly had also representation for the Nationalist Congress
Party, the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party and the United
Goans Democratic Party. The UGDP vanished long ago with
both its members joining the Congress while legislators
defected also from the remaining two parties.
Though the BJP claims that none of their
'original' members defected till last, it is a fact that
they went for dissolution precisely to avoid such a situation.
Even otherwise, the party has already declared ticket for
one of the defector minister Shaikh Hassan, when Gujarat
has just calmed down and Ayodhya may perhaps repeat the
history…
