Thanks to the Goa Defacement Act,the walls here bear no sign of the elections. It is a bridge that is making poll news,even as the two-week campaign for the 40-seat Assembly is warming up. The long-promised bridge,yet to be built across the Mapusa river in Aldona,has turned out to be the first major electoral flashpoint. Saturday afternoon,a minibus overshot at a ferry wharf and plunged into the river,killing seven including four schoolchildren. The Congress Chief Minister,Digambar Kamat,was quick to call off the parade in the capital that kicks off the annual four-day carnival after which Catholic Goa concludes seasonal festivities and goes into Lent. No one is quarrelling with the cancellation. Tourists and the locals have already got used to evenings that cant stretch beyond the Election Commissions happy hours. The carnival itself was reluctantly permitted with suitable poll-eve caveats. However,for the CM and his partyman who is contesting from Aldona,the damage has been done. The candidate,Dayanand Narvekar,who suspended his weekend campaign,is certain its a man-made accident,which could have happened at any of the 18 such ferry points in the state. Already Rs 35 crore has been sanctioned for a bridge and much work is in progress. This silver jubilee legislator and many-time minister (left) says the state has just about enough to fund a new bridge once in five years. The sitting Congress MLA has been sitting pretty for two consecutive terms doing nothing,says his principal rival Dr Wilfred DSouza (right). This longtime politician,once an ace surgeon,admits nothing can compensate the loss of life. And no life can be lost for want of a bridge. The current Congress government is that rare one that ran its full term and the doctor says it is no big deal to build a little bridge across the watery stretch at Aldona. He himself built two bridges spanning the broader Mandovi river in his days as minister. Rivers weave in and out of the Goan landmass and the urge to connect is strong. Particularly among politicians. This veteran of seasoned connects and reconnects,Dr DSouza,once the Congress and lately the NCP face here,has this time made a leap beyond the state borders to team up with Mamata Di. He leads the Trinamool team of 20 candidates,some opposing the corrupt UPA partner Congress and some the untouchably communal BJP. How,of all parties,could Trinamool matter to Goans? Look at its portfolios at the Centre railways,tourism,shipping. So Goans can vote for Clout @ Centre and Mamata with Manmohan subject to the UP poll outcome.
