Sandesh Prabhudesai
21 May 1999
Both the national parties - the Congress and the Bharaitya Janata Party
- appear to be having an upper hand in the state Assembly elections, though it all depends
on how they counter the threat posed by the three regional parties and the Congress
rebels.
Almost 94 independents have finally withdrawn from the contest on the
last day of withdrawals yesterday. But the sword of 23 rebels still hangs on the Congress,
which has been ruling the 40-member House since 1980. In addition, the BJP has emerged as
a strong force for the first time, sidelining the regional forces.
The contestants remaining in the fray, besides both the national
parties, are mainly the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party, the United Goans Democratic Party
and the Goa Rajiv Congress, besides the independents. Parties like the Janata Dal and the
left front are irrelevant.
While Alex Sequeira has been elected unopposed from Loutolim, the
Congress stronghold from South Goa, both the BJP and the Congress are contesting all the
remaining 39 seats. But the MGP, which had ruled the state for the first 17 years, is
contesting only 31 seats.
Besides giving tickets to three Congress rebels and accommodating one
candidate each from the GRC and the UGDP, the MGP has now also withdrawn its candidates
from two constituencies in support of the UGDP candidate and a Congress rebel, both former
ministers.
The UGDP, which is stronger only in seven Catholic-dominated pockets of
South Goa, has fielded 17 candidates, three among which are the Congress rebels. They have
also given ticket to Suresh Parulekar, the GRC general secretary, to fight against speaker
Tomazinho Cardoz. The MGP has withdrawn its candidate here in support of the former.
Rather than concentrating on giving tickets to his party candidates, Dr
Wilfred de Souza’s GRC has embraced most of the Congress rebels while fielding 14
candidates against several Congress leaders, including Dr Willy’s arch political
rival Dayanand Narvekar, one of the aspirants for the CM’s post.
With the tourist state witnessing triangular fight only in 14 segments
out of 40, predicting results has become extremely difficult. The multi-corner fight in
the remaining 25 constituencies is threatening base of the Congress as well as the MGP,
which were the star performers till last elections held in 1994.
Besides the BJP, which has posed threat to both the Congress and the
MGP, candidates fielded by the UGDP, GRC and the Congress rebels may spoil prospects of
both the national parties, which are otherwise in a good position to win the seats. If
they succeed, the hung Assembly once again would be inevitable.
Except constituencies belonging to former Congress chief ministers
Pratapsing Rane and Luizinho Faleiro, most of the former CMs belonging to all parties as
well as several ministers are facing a multi-corner fight, making it extremely difficult
for them to win comfortably.
This includes Congress leaders like Ravi Naik, Dayanand Narvekar, Luis
Alex Cardoz, Dominic Fernandes, Sanjay Bandekar, Mauvin Godinho, Wilfred Mesquita, Pandu
Vasu Naik and even Churchill Alemao.
It is also not a cakewalk for rebel Congress leader Dr Wilfred de Souza
or MGP leaders like Ramakant Khalap or Shashikala Kakodkar. The future of former ministers
like Pandurang Raut and Jagdish Acharya, both habitual defectors, is also bleak though
they have now come back to their original party - the MGP.
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