Sandesh Prabhudesai
19 April 1999
The sudden collapse of the 13-month old Bharatiya Janata Party-led
coalition government at the centre has created environment of confusion among all the
political parties in Goa, which is getting prepared to face Assembly polls the next month.
Most confused among all appears to be the local rank and file of the
Bharatiya Janata Party here, whose plans to face the polls next month by using it power at
the centre have gone haywire. Its 12-day "parivartan yatra", scheduled from
today (Monday, 19 April), has been postponed by a week.
"Developments in Delhi would not hamper our prospects in
Goa", claims Shripad Naik, who would be projected as the BJP’s chief minister
during the yatra, though he cannot give a satisfactory reply for postponing the
poll-oriented march.
The BJP however feels it improper to go to the people when everybody is
confused about what has happened at the centre. In order to boost the morale of the
demoralised cadre, the saffron party now plans to generate a sympathy wave while also
attaching the Congress nationally as well as locally.
"We are not responsible for the fall of the central
government", declared Goa Pradesh Congress committee chief Luizinho Faleiro at a
press conference here, indicating that the Congress is playing safe while gauging the
general public mood in a changed situation.
Claiming that the BJP-led coalition government has collapsed under its
own weight, the Congress however has strengthened its attack on the BJP, reminding people
of the attacks on minorities and blaming them for economic recession.
The BJP leaderships is however also dejected because its plans to woo
the voters with assurances sought from prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee have washed
away. During the party’s national executive held here this month, the local unit had
sought monetary assistance for environment master plan, round-the-clock air port facility
and even a football academy.
In fact, the BJP rally was literally converted into an election
campaign meeting with central leaders promising everything possible while launching a
scathing attack on the Congress and the politics of defections in Goa, holding the
Congress solely responsible for it. But the sudden collapse has thrown all its plans to
winds, forcing them to change the gears and slow down on the road to power.
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