TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: Call it a packed house where poli(talking) and sometimes  silence was the name of the game!
Expectations were never too high from the depleted group of nine opposition Congress members, yet the performance of some senior Congress MLAs being “abysmally low” in  the just concluded monsoon session of the Goa legislative assembly was rather shocking.
Except Curtorim legislatorAleixo Reginaldo Lourenco, none of the senior Congress MLAs showed any bravado to take on the BJP coalition government on significant issues, plaguing the state.
Independent MLAs and former Congress MLAs, Fatorda legislator Vijai Sardesai and Bicholim legislator Narendra Sawal displayed some spirit to take  on Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar and “acted as the opposition”. But their initial burst ran out of steam as the
chief  minister punctured their rhetoric by subtle warnings and retorts.
When Sardesai made allegations about illegal conversion of agricultural land, Parrikar retorted, “You must be an authority on the issue, “ indirectly hinting at Sardesai’s residence in Fatorda allegedly built on agriculture land.
Though Opposition Leader Pratapsing Rane, and former Chief Minister Digambar Kamat spoke in the House -- it was more on mundane issues rather than any thing substantial such as feet dragging on mining etc. Even when Parrikar took pot shots at the functioning of the former Congress-led government, there was no return fire from the Congress.
Senior leaders had nothing better to say than “wax eloquent” on certain issues. The opposition leader loved to talk about farming in Valpoi. However, what was surprising to note is that the opposition benches never ever seemed charged, to take on Parrikar and instead seemed to defuse their own issues by using extremely kind  words such as, “can you please”, “let it be”, “will you please”, “it is good” and “it is okay.”