What saved Congress in Goa from another harakiri

As the Congress party regroups in Goa after very nearly losing 10 of its 11 legislators to the BJP this past weekend, its central leadership must plan its future strategy drawing from the yawn-inducing cliché: There are no permanent friends and no permanent enemies in politics; only permanent interests.

Those privy to the developments that sent the Congress party in a tizzy between July 9 and July 11 told The Federal that it was ultimately a clash of personal interests of two heavyweights and the prospect of exacting sweet revenge that a third legislator saw in the unfolding drama that eventually saved the day for the Grand Old party.

Lobo-Kamat tango

Congress sources confirmed that there indeed was an attempt by Michael Lobo, leader of opposition (LoP) in the Goa assembly, to deliver 10 of the party’s 11 MLAs to the BJP a day before the assembly was convened for its monsoon session. In his endeavour, Lobo also had the support of his foe-turned-friend, Digambar Kamat.

Kamat, who had quit the BJP to join the Congress in 2005 and gone on to serve as Goa chief minister from 2007 to 2012, had been sulking ever since his party chose Lobo over him as the LoP after the BJP returned to power for a third consecutive term this March. As a consolation, Kamat was appointed as a permanent invitee to the Congress Working Committee – the party’s highest decision-making body – by interim Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

With Kamat indicating his willingness to support Lobo’s rebellion, the two leaders would have had sufficient Congress MLAs on board to muster a two-thirds majority in the Congress legislative party and thus the shifting of this bloc to the BJP would not have attracted disqualification under the anti-defection law. With 10 Congress MLAs moving to the BJP, the Pramod Sawant-led BJP government would have also secured a comfortable majority in the 40-member assembly, where it is currently backed by 20 BJP MLAs, two MGP legislators and two independents.

With the Congress’s central leadership in Delhi clueless about what was in the works in far off Goa, Lobo’s plan would have succeeded. So what went wrong? Sources told The Federal that it was not until Saturday (July 9) that the Congress’s Goa in-charge, Dinesh Gundu Rao woke up to the rude shock of an imminent coup in the works.

A timely tip from ally

It was a tip-off from ally Goa Forward Party’s chief and Fatorda MLA Vijay Sardesai that sent the Congress in damage-control mode with Rao rushing to Panjim and the party ‘sacking’ Lobo as LoP. On July 10, Sonia Gandhi also dispatched senior party leader Mukul Wasnik to Panjim to act as her emissary and rein in the revolt.

Additionally, the Congress also wrote to the Goa assembly speaker seeking disqualification of Lobo and Kamat as MLAs under the anti-defection law for alleged anti-party activities. The petition is now pending before the speaker and the Congress is in no hurry to withdraw it even though Lobo and Kamat have both asserted that they are with the party. Lobo has said the party’s action against him was the result of a “misunderstanding”.

Also read: Congress acts tough, seeks disqualification of defecting Goa MLAs

How Sardesai came to know of the brewing rebellion and his motivations in becoming the Congress’s saviour is equally fascinating. Sources told The Federal that Sardesai, who has an axe to grind with the Goa CM, was informed about Lobo’s plan by a BJP insider who comes from a Congress pedigree and has political ambitions that clash with Sawant.

If Goa’s political grapevine is to be believed, Sardesai was informed about the defection plan by Valpoi MLA Vishwajit Rane, a senior minister in Sawant’s cabinet and son of Congress veteran Pratapsingh Rane.

The frosty relations between Vishwajit and Sawant are well-known. Sawant had bent over backwards to keep Vishwajit in good humour – ahead of the assembly polls, at the CM’s behest, the BJP government had awarded 83-year-old Pratapsingh Rane lifetime status of a cabinet minister in recognition of his 50 years in public life.

However, Vishwajit has made no secret of his chief ministerial ambitions. He had lobbied for the post after the BJP returned to power in Goa but eventually lost out to Sawant and had to be satisfied with continuing as a cabinet minister in the BJP government.

Sources say Vishwajit understood that if Lobo, a former minister in the Sawant cabinet who had quit the BJP to join the Congress ahead of the assembly polls, returned to the saffron party with a bloc of Congress MLAs, Sawant’s position as CM would have strengthened further. Lobo had, according to sources, been assured by Sawant that he would be made deputy chief minister. The coming together of Sawant and Lobo would have led to Vishwajit’s marginalisation in the BJP and its government.

Conflicting business interests

Leaders aware of the intricacies and intrigues of Goan politics say Vishwajit and Lobo also have conflicting business interests as both are heavily invested in the state’s tourism and hospitality industry. Ever since the BJP returned to power in Goa, Vishwajit, as Goa’s town and country planning minister, had reportedly taken a personal interest in cracking down on alleged violations in the building and functioning of hotels and other properties owned by Lobo.

Last month, Lobo and his wife, Congress’s Siolem MLA Delilah Lobo, had alleged that they “have been made to pay for the fight between Pramod Sawant and Vishwajit Rane”. Lobo had accused Vishwajit of running a targeted campaign against him and said, “Five of my restaurants have been issued notices by Food and Drugs Administration (FDA), whose officials have started stopping my clients from entering our restaurants. I know he (Vishwajit) is planning to target the remaining 7-8 more restaurants owned by me”.

Sources say it was after these raids that Lobo reached out to Sawant for help. “Lobo wanted Sawant to intervene but the CM told him that it was difficult to rein in Vishwajit as he had the support of a chunk of BJP MLAs and the party couldn’t afford to overrule him since it could destabilise the government… it was during these discussions that they talked about the possibility of Lobo getting Congress MLAs to defect to the BJP but both realised that Congress MLAs wouldn’t want to risk by-polls… Lobo was asked to ensure that at least two-thirds of the Congress MLAs defected to avoid disqualification,” an MLA privy to the negotiations told The Federal.

Rane was, perhaps, alerted about the machinations at play by one of the Congress MLAs who was approached by Lobo. Sources say Lobo, on his own, could have assured the BJP of defection of no more than four Congress MLAs – including himself, his wife Delilah, Saligao MLA Kedar Naik, and Cambarjua MLA Rajesh Faldessai – and needed Kamat’s support to ensure a two-thirds split in the Congress legislative party.

Tipped off by Vishwajit, sources say Sardesai lost no time in telling the Congress leadership in Delhi to take urgent pre-emptive measures. It is important to outline why Sardesai, who was instrumental in installing a BJP government in Goa in 2017, acted as an eager volunteer to save the Congress in Goa.

Sardesai’s turnaround

Back in 2017, winning 17 seats the Congress had emerged as Goa’s single largest party against the BJP, which had won 13 seats. Sardesai’s GFP, which made its debut in that election, had won three seats and was tipped as the kingmaker. However, as Congress leaders took their own sweet time to reach out to potential post-poll allies, Sardesai announced his support to the BJP under the late Manohar Parrikar’s leadership. Sardesai, along with the other two GFP MLAs, were accommodated as ministers in Parrikar’s cabinet.

Sardesai’s support to the BJP continued even after Parrikar succumbed to pancreatic cancer and was succeeded by Sawant as the new CM. The BJP then made Sardesai deputy chief minister along with the BJP’s own Manohar Ajgaonkar.

By July 2019, 10 Congress MLAs, including then Leader of Opposition Chandrakant Kavlekar, defected to the BJP. Expectedly, the sudden induction of Congress MLAs into the BJP’s ranks also forced a cabinet expansion to accommodate the turncoats. It was also around this time that Sawant wanted to induct Lobo, then a BJP MLA, into his cabinet and cut Sardesai to size. Sources say Sawant had proposed to Sardesai that he give up not just the deputy CM’s post to make way for Kavlekar but also another important portfolio held by a GFP MLA.

Sardesai’s protestations didn’t count for anything and he soon found himself summarily dismissed from the cabinet. The BJP-GFP alliance, thus, ended on a sour note. Sources say Sardesai has, since, nurtured a grouse against Sawant. By helping the Congress deflate Lobo’s rebellion, Sardesai has thus exacted his revenge. Similarly, by leaking information on the supposed coup to Sardesai and urging him to get an inertia-prone Congress act in time, Rane has preserved his clout within the BJP for now.

Also read: ‘Rumours’: Goa Congress refutes talks of party MLAs joining BJP

Congress sources concede Lobo may not stay with the party for long. The Congress would like to keep Lobo and Kamat under check, which explains why it hasn’t withdrawn its disqualification petition filed before the Goa speaker against the two MLAs. Party leaders also believe that though the immediate threat of losing its MLAs to the BJP may have been averted, a renewed effort by Lobo to engineer defections cannot be ruled out and that the central leadership will need to remain vigilant.

The Congress high command is also discussing names of potential candidates who can take over from Lobo as the LoP and CLP leader in the Goa assembly. Sources say a section of party leaders are open to the idea of appointing Sardesai as the LoP if he merges his GFP with the Congress.