Goa Diary

Fear is the keyLike Lady Macbeth, Goa Chief Minister Luizinho Faleiro, is seeking reassurances of safety. The ruthless political manipula...

Fear is the key

Like Lady Macbeth, Goa Chief Minister Luizinho Faleiro, is seeking reassurances of safety. The ruthless political manipulator who is being hunted by power-hungry Congress MLAs has gobbled the two-member United Goans Democratic Party. Next on the menu is the four-member Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party led by Ramakant Khalap.

So will only the ten-member Bharatiya Janata Party be spared should Goa Rajiv Congress legislators Wilfred D8217;Souza and Francis D8217;Souza join the Congress? Already five Congress ministers including two former Chief Ministers issued a signed statement saying all is well with the party thereby betraying the political ferment within the government. No wonder Faleiro keeps late nights worrying who among his colleagues will play Brutus.

Peace all the way

Even before war-weary Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee can pause to consider, Panaji8217;s municipal leaders have declared the town a peace-blossom8217; city.

A movement begun by the US-based Sri ChinmoyCentres International, nearly 800 cities and towns around the world have signed up.

What is more, 28 countries like Canada and Australia have also signed up. Will Sri Chinmoy now touch down in Islamabad and New Delhi to help peace bloom in Kargil?

Doomsday dreams

If Nostradamus interpreters were to be believed, the world was supposed to begin its end last Sunday. Reams of newsprint expended on the expected apocalypse naturally had its echoes in Goa, as well.

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A pious Catholic woman was heard quoting from the Bible8217;s Revelations that the end was near. But, she insisted, Goa would be spared thanks to the beneficial influence of St Francis Xavier whose relics rest to this day in the famous Basilica of Bom Jesus.

Tailpiece

Last week, the Goa assembly witnessed a rare bonhomie between former Chief Ministers Ravi Naik, Churchill Alemao and MLA Victoria Fernandes. Naik, who is Housing Minister, even received fulsome praise from Fernandes. Naturally, everyone was surprised since Naik as ChiefMinister had arrested and jailed Alemao and Fernandes under the National Security Act. So what is cooking between them? Watch this space.

Shiv Kumar