Why Goa MLAs joined BJP in post-midnight 'coup'
The BJP has consolidated its hold on the Goa Assembly with two of the MGP legislators officially joining the party, intriguingly in the early hours of Wednesday.
With two more legislators in its kitty, the BJP is now on par with the Congress at 14 legislators each.
But what has attracted attention is that the entire exercise of joining the BJP happened at 1.45 am, when most of Goa and India were sleeping, other than hapless folks on the graveyard shift and professional burglars on the lookout for an open window or a loose door.
Those in touch with Goa politics, however, would not have been too surprised as much of its activities too are complicated enough to stump seasoned political observers.
For instance, during the death of its chief minister Manohar Parrikar recently and when the state, nay, the country was in mourning legislators and the top leadership of the BJP were busy scurrying around in a frantic attempt to find an acceptable successor and ensure that the regional political parties would continue to support the ruling party.
Finally, with the deal brokered the new government was sworn-in, again late night at 1 am.
Goa’s Assembly with 40 legislators has historically been unstable with governments unable to stay in power for too long. Parrikar was credited with bringing in some solidity after initially stumbling like his predecessors.
In fact, after the 2017 assembly elections the Congress got the taste of Goa in a slightly new avatar. Having been in power for long, though in and out, India’s Grand Old Party sat tight as it was the single largest party with 17 seats, waiting complacently for the Governor to invite it to form the government. The BJP had won 13. Senior party leader Digvijaya Singh was in charge and armed with the responsibility of ensuring that the Congress was ensconced in power.
To the shock of the Congress, the Governor invited the BJP to form government as it had snatched the support of other parties from the under the nose of Digvijay Singh. The party shouted hoarse, but there was no one to listen. And soon, the BJP was back in power. Parrikar who was away in Delhi as Defence Minister had to return to Goa as that was the precondition for support to the BJP. But the BJP leadership wouldn’t have minded that as it had managed to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.
As for the rattled Digvijay Singh, that has since spelt the end of his prominence in the Congress. He has progressively been sidelined. Singh received a sliver of chance recently when he was asked to contest for the “tough” seat of Bhopal in the ensuing parliamentary elections. Tough seat because the Congress has never won this constituency in recent memory.
Goa woke up the Congress from its slumber, proved its had learnt its lessons when in the May 2018 Assembly elections, it turned the table on the BJP by allying with the Janata Dal (S) in a dramatic, but daytime, move and forming government in Karnataka. The BJP with eight seats short, was left holding an empty can.
In this newfangled political skirmish that in many ways has been unprecedented, Goa has willy-nilly exported its unstable, intriguing and unpredictable brand of politics to the rest of the nation. In this context, the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections may well see a rollicking situation that will have people on the edge of their seats.ht drama in Goa
