Goa Diary

With Dayanand Narvekar, number two in the Cabinet, not exactly a bum-chum, Willy is out poaching for friends from the rival camp 8212; even if they need to be dragged home kicking and screaming.

One such new-found friend happens to be an Independent legislator, Manu Fernandes, who till the other day was swearing eternal fealty to former boss Pratapsinh Rane. All it took the good doctor was a general examination of the assets owned by Fernandes which allegedly revealed an illegally constructed hotel.

When suggestively worded leaks to the local press failed to yield results, a flying demolition squad8217; came knocking at the establishment. The following day, the aptly nicknamed Old Fox, won another ally for the forthcoming vote of confidence.

Last heard of, the Speaker of the Goa Assembly, TomazinhoCardozo, was being investigated for illegally constructing a palatial mansion. Turns out, the multi-storey structure was valued at just Rs 60,000 for the purpose of calculating house-tax. Cardozo, who worked overtime to dethrone the chief minister, put up a weak defence before the media, saying he had lost the occupancy certificate granted by the panchayati! Talk of jokers living in glass houses.

Advantage8217;

Wilfred D8217;Souza8217;s now-frequent encounters with the press are occasions of entertainment for the Fourth Estate even though few stories emerge from them. For once, the pugnacious scribes of Goa are receiving a dose of their own medicine from the septuagenarian chief minister.

In one Willy versus the hack-pack tie recently, a few reporters confronted the chief minister following an assault on his rival, Goa Pradesh Congress Committee President, Shantaram Naik. The Congressman, who had made some unsavoury remarks about Rashtriya Swyamsevak Sangh activities, had his face blackened by somemiscreants.

Rather than apologise for the incident as a chief minister should, he went on the offensive. 8220;Are people8217;s faces being blackened on the streets? Did someone blacken your face? He must have done something, that8217;s why it happened,8221; chortled D8217;Souza.

It only shows that a grey head behind a pair of benign grandfatherly glasses takes away much of the sting from a sharp tongue. Old age certainly has its uses!

Courting Contempt

The raging war between Chief Minister Wilfred D8217;Souza and the Goa Assembly Speaker, Tomazinho Cardozo, nearly resulted in one person being hauled up for contempt of court.

Just before the offices closed for the Independence Day weekend, the Speaker, who was hearing a petition to disqualify the chief minister and nine other legislators, declared them guilty under the Anti-Defection Law. The two-day holiday ensured that the 10 persons were not served the order before Monday. The idea was to delay the process to ensure that the 10 persons did not have enough timeto obtain a stay from the court before a no-confidence motion scheduled for later this week.

However, the Speaker8217;s plans went for a toss when the chief minister and his associates filed a writ petition even without the order. Amid all the drama unfolding in the high court an unidentified person walked into the court and tried to 8220;serve8221; the order on the petitioner8217;s counsel, who was on his feet. If only the judge had gone beyond a sharp rebuke at the intruder, the identity of the hidden hand would have been unmasked.

Tailpiece

Finally, it needed some old-fashioned strong-arm tactics, courtesy the Shiv Sena, to stop the activities of some touts active at the Panaji bus stand.Rather than complain to the local police, some tourists who were fleeced by the touts returned home to Sindhudurg in neighbouring Maharashtra and informed the local Sena shakha.

The Sena promptly warned that no transport bus would be allowed to ply between the two states till the touts were brought to book. The Goa policesoon swung into action and nabbed two touts. Now, official fingers remain crossed in the hope that no Marathi tourist is fleeced during the coming Ganapati festival.