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Journalism of Courage
In April, soon after the elections, the Congress made 68-year-old Digambar Kamat, the most senior of its 11 in MLAs, a permanent member of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), the party’s top decision making body.
However, Kamat wasn’t happy. Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the previous Assembly, he was divested of responsibilities in the state as part of the Congress’s bid to promote its Gen Next leaders – while 38-year-old Amit Patkar was made president of the Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC), Micheal Lobo, a BJP leader who joined the party just ahead of the Assembly election, was made leader of the legislature party.
Kamat, the veteran who had been at the forefront of the Congress’s activities in Goa, has taken a backseat since then, describing himself as “retired hurt”.
Ahead of the elections in February, Kamat was the only MLA the Congress had with it from among the 17 who were elected in the 2017 Assembly elections – while 10 MLAs defected to the BJP in 2019, veteran Pratap Singh Rane backed out ahead of the election, one joined the BJP and the other the TMC, and one MLA contested as an Independent.
As party veteran and as someone who had stayed with the party when its fortunes hit rock-bottom, Kamat was seen the frontrunner for the CM post had Congress formed the government. Kamat had served as chief minister of Goa from 2007 to 2012, the last Congress government in the state.
While Kamat was not named chief ministerial candidate, he had kept his hopes alive as AICC Goa in-charge Dinesh Gundu Rao had said, “Everyone knows who will be the Chief Minister if the Congress forms the government.”
Kamat has been elected from his fortress of Margao seven times, during which he has oscillated between the Congress and the BJP. While his journey began in the Congress, Kamat joined the BJP in 1994 and won two elections as the party’s candidate from the party. In 2005, he joined the Congress once again. In 2007, with opinion divided on whether to choose Ravi Naik or Pratapsingh Rane as CM, the party finally named Kamat as a ‘compromise’. Kamat had joined the Congress two years before he was made CM for his second stint and was reportedly instrumental in bringing down the Manohar Parrikar-led BJP government in 2005.
Before becoming CM in June 2007, Kamat served as the state’s minister for power, urban development, mines and art and culture.
His chief ministership was, however, chequered. Kamat was accused in a case of bribery under sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. Along with then PWD minister Churchill Alemao, Kamat was also booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act. Alemao was PWD minister from 2007 to 2012 when officials of the US-based company Louis Berger allegedly paid bribes to win a consultancy bid for water augmentation and a sewerage pipeline project in Goa under the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The case under the PMLA is being probed by the Enforcement Directorate and a court has framed charges against both Kamat and Alemao.
Kamat, who served as mining minister of the state for 10 years, was in 2012 indicted by a judicial commission for reportedly allowing illegal mining in the state.
Before he made his debut as MLA in 1995, Kamat had served as a councillor of the Margao Municipal Council from 1985 to 1990. Kamat, who has interests in real estate, described himself as an ‘agriculturist’ in his election affidavit and declared moveable assets worth Rs 6.87 crore and immovable assets worth Rs 3.21 crore. He holds a BSc degree from Mumbai University.
