Sandesh Prabhudesai
9 April 1999
While a tea party in the national capital few weeks ago sent political
tremors all over the country, a luncheon meeting - held once again in Delhi - has shaken
up the whole tiny tourist state here, thanks to dramatic changes made in the local
Congress organisation.
AICC general secretary Madhavrao Scindia, also in-charge of the Goa
desk, suddenly called all the top Congress leaders from Goa, obviously who keep on
fighting with each other, on 7 April to discuss the election strategy. But it actually
turned out to be the selection strategy of Sonia Gandhi.
Just before the top leaders could assemble at the dining table, Scindia
took Goa PCC chief Shantaram Naik aside, to tell him very politely that he has been
replaced by Luizinho Faleiro, the former chief minister, who could not run the government
for even two months before the Goa Assembly was prematurely dissolved, imposing the
President’s rule.
As everybody had finished eating, Scindia made the formal announcement
of Faleiro’s appointment as well as appointing another former chief minister
Pratapsing Rane, who could run his government for three and a half years by engineering
series of defections, as the president of the pradesh election committee.
Churchill Alemao, another group leader and former COFEPOSA detenue, has
been now appointed convenor of the PEC whereas yet another former chief minister Ravi
Naik, presently the MP, will head the state election campaign while Francisco Sardinha,
another MP, would be its convenor.
While nobody knows what these posts would ultimately mean and in what
way it would benefit all these group leaders within the party, senior leaders here admit
that the change in the PCC leadership has been made to woo the Christian voters, who can
turn the tables in favour of the Congress, despite having a strength of hardly 30 per
cent.
Faleiro camp however does not seem to be overenthused with the
arrangement since the de facto PEC president’s post, which automatically comes to the
PCC president, has been awarded to Rane, who is also Scindia’s close relative. It is
thus still unclear who would have a major stake in deciding candidates - the PCC chief or
the PEC president.
The local BJP leaders however claim credit for the sudden changes in
the party which has ruled the state for over a decade. Congress chief Mrs Gandhi has tried
to work out a crisis management programme, fearing that that the majority Hindu vote is
getting polarised around the hindutvawadi party, claims a BJP leader
A senior Congress leader also admits that the high command should have
done the arrangement in such a way, which could have also retained its Hindu voters rather
than sending such communal signals, weakening its so called secular credentials.
The sudden change in the leadership has come as a surprise since the
high command has bluntly refused repeated requests made by groups led by Faleiro, Alemao
as well as both the MPs in this regard last month while closing the chapter by retaining
Shantaram Naik, who was supported by Rane.
Following this, Naik had practically readmitted every Congress rebel
back into the party fold while the opponents within the party had also compelled him to
readmit other rebels, who are also vying for party tickets. It is thus a total confusion
now while deciding candidature since every name would give birth to minimum one rebel
candidate against the Congress in every constituency.
Meanwhile, a tug of war is still on within the Congress on the issue of
readmitting another former chief minister Dr Wilfred de Souza, who had split from the
party to form coalition government along with the opposition, by toppling the Rane
government. De Souza however has denied the news, stating that he would go ahead with his
plans to form a regional front of local parties.
Your Comments Please
