Uncertainty grips Goan politics

Making a scathing attack on the Congress high command for overdepending on the advice of PCC President Luizinho Faleiro, the leader of the breakaway Congress faction, Mormugao MLA Shaikh Hassan, addressing the press at Panaji, warned that the continuance of Faleiro as the PCC chief could even pave the way for a third split in the 10-member CLP. He talked about the possibility of four more MLAs crossing sides if Faleiro was not immediately removed from the post of the state party president.

Hassan disclosed that at least eight MLAs had flown to Mumbai, three months ago, and petitioned AICC general secretary and MP Prabha Rao calling for the replacement of Faleiro as PCC President.

He said that although Rao had then accepted the demand, her subsequent visit to Goa and her speech challenging the MLAs to defect if they were not satisfied with the State party leadership, had clearly proved that Faleiro had succeeded in prevailing upon her as he had done in the past.

Although the breakaway group also demanded the replacement of the current CLP leader Ravi Naik, it was clear that the group’s ire was directed primarily against Faleiro, who they termed, was flagrantly encouraging ‘coteries’ in the Congress party.

Shaikh Hassan, while reiterating unconditional support to the Sardinha Government, however, could not say as to when the breakaway group would join the Government. Scotching rumours of the BJP being unhappy with the new political development, Hassan claimed to have met the BJP Leader Manohar Parrikar, who he claimed, had not shown any displeasure with the breakaway group’s action.

BJP Leader Manohar Parrikar, speaking to The Indian Express, said that the new development had not changed BJP’s equation with the GPCP. He, however, did not rule out a review of the BJP’s ties with the GPCP in the event of the merger of the breakaway faction in the GPCP. He also made a forceful case for the dropping of Revenue Minister Mauvin Godinho from the State Government for passing a recent order of the shifting of the idol of Goddess Shantadurga at Bicholim. He said he would shortly call on the Chief Minister to resolve this issue.

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and lone NCP MLA Dr Wilfred D’Souza, in a separate press briefing, said the stage was now ripe for the dumping of the BJP and for having a secular government in Goa.

This also echoes the general sentiment among other parties that the GPCP-BJP honeymoon would not last long, following the Congress split. According to them, the BJP would withdraw support to Sardinha in the event of the breakaway faction merging with the ruling GPCP, which now looks a distinct possibility.

The much-expected GPCP-Congress faction merger and the induction of two of its members in the Government is thus being eagerly awaited by political observers here.

In this context, Shaikh Hassan’s observation that the State Government had become stronger on account of the new political development is interesting. Although the support of the breakaway faction is `unconditional’, the uneasiness of not being aptly rewarded immediately after the defection was clearly felt when this correspondent spoke to the three MLAs at the press briefing.

Reported utterance of Chief Minister Francisco Sardinha of having no immediate plans to drop or induct new ministers has further aggravated the confusion.

However, Luizinho Faleiro rejected the demand for his resignation. As the chorus for Faleiro’s resignation as PCC President increases, PCC senior vice-president Churchill Alemao has reportedly put his hat in the ring for the CLP leadership at the behest of Faleiro. This tactic on Faleiro’s part was to deflect the focus of dissidents’ attack from him to Ravi Naik.

The fact that the three breakaway MLAs who addressed the press were seen being congratulated just below the Congress House by State Congress functionaries while Luizinho Faleiro was confabulating in his office upstairs alone exposed the covert support to their action and the growing disgruntled feeling against Faleiro in the State Congress Party.