Sandesh Prabhudesai
26 Feb 1998
Should the best Parliamentarian be judged based on his performance in
the House or actual work in the constituency is the main issue in Goa, around which the
Lok Sabha elections are being contested here for the two seats.
The ruling Congress party here has taken convenient stance in both the
constituencies, in order to woo its voters and win over both the seats - Panaji and
Mormugao - lost in the ’96 polls.
To attack union law minister Ramakant Khalap, Congress candidate Ravi
Naik, the former chief minister, is flaying his non-performance in the constituency.
Former minister Francisco Sardinha, the Mormugao candidate, however criticises Churchill
Alemao’s lack of education to be the skilled Parliamentarian.
Both Khalap and Alemao, belonging to two different regional outfits,
however have parted away and are bent upon defeating each other. The BJP, by filing better
candidates than in the past, has also overcome its non-entity impression.
The issues are many to pose before the voters, like writing off its
union territory loan of Rs 400 crore, whether to make Goa a free port, eco-friendly
industries and tourism and infrastructural development. But it is limited to the
manifesto, while performance of the MP is the prime issue.
More in trouble however is Khalap in Panaji (North Goa), as all the
three opponents are his former colleagues in the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party, eating
into the minister’s traditional vote bank.
The Congress candidate is a Bhandari, Alemao having Babuso Gaonkar, the
Gawda tribal and BJP’s Pandurang Raut belongs to Khalap’s Maratha community. The
MGP relies upon all these three communities to counter the Congress.
Flaying them as turncoats, Khalap is also stressing upon their lack of
oratory skills and experience as the Parliamentarian. All three of them had joined the
Congress while two of them recently joined their respective parties to contest elections.
Though Congress normally gets most of the Catholic votes, Naik is not
preferred by most of them. In fact deputy chief minister Wilfred de Souza, the rebel
Congress leader, has taken an open stand against his party candidate.
Both the camps belonging to Khalap and Alemao today claim that de Souza
is working for them while even a normal observer is puzzled, not knowing whom the rebel
leader is working for. Khalap however appears weak, not having both de Souza and Alemao
with him, like in ’96.
The BJP also sounds much stronger in MGP areas this time due to its
"people’s candidate" and the BJP wave, whereas Alemao has also made a dent
into MGP strongholds, besides Catholic-dominated Congress bastions, shaking up
Khalap’s confidence.
Whatever may be the reason, but the four lakh-strong North Goa
constituency has never elected the same MP for the second consecutive time. Despite North
Goa getting the cabinet berth for the first time, Khalap may not succeed in changing the
history if Alemao’s candidate polls more MGP votes.
Comparatively, Alemao himself appears quite comfortable in the South,
though Congress candidate Sardinha is more accepted than former union minister Eduardo
Faleiro, whom Alemao did not allow in ’96 to enter the sixth term.
But he would not be able to maintain his margin of 25,000 votes, admit
Alemao’s close aides, as Sardinha is capable enough to win over the traditional
Congress votes of the Catholic community this time. Alemao, last time, had secured maximum
votes in the Catholic-dominated areas.
But the Congress is also threatened by BJP candidate Ramakant Angle,
who is quite popular in the South due his generosity in giving donations to clubs and
educational institutes. More than Alemao, the Congress has a fear of losing votes to the
BJP.
Alemao’s prospects had in fact brightened when the MGP fielded a
weak candidate, Padmanabh Amonkar, as the MGP youth automatically got drifted towards more
dashing leader and Goa’s strongman.
Realising its weakness, the MGP leaders however are now campaigning
among its cadres, requesting them to vote for the Congress, if not the MGP. But how much
the last-minute attempts would accrue results is a question MGP leaders are asking to
themselves.
While performance is the public issue used for mud-slinging, most of
the parties here are seen involved in calculating community votes and taking help of
disgruntled elements in the opponent’s camps.
Principles are overshadowed with opportunism, in the name of political
game while Goans are taken for a royal ride in the name of democracy.
