PANJIM, APRIL 7
General Secretary of All India Congress Committee (AICC) and observer in-charge of Goa desk, B K Hariprasad today said that everything was under control and there is no threat to the Digambar Kamat-led government in Goa.
Talking to the Herald from New Delhi, Hariprasad said he has not yet submitted the report on the demands of Group of Seven (G7) legislators , to Congress President Sonia Gandhi as she was not in Delhi.
It’s one week today since the G7 MLAs submitted their list of demands to Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leaders in Delhi who in turn deliberated on the issue at their coordination committee meeting held on March 31.
After the coordination committee meeting, G7 members who were eagerly waiting for a response, were advised by NCP central leaders to return to Goa saying that the Congress would get back to them soon after Easter Sunday.
Realising that the Congress was testing their patience, G7 members rushed to Mumbai on Monday but had to return empty handed Tuesday early morning to attend the emergency cabinet meeting, much to the irritation of their senior leaders.
Hariprasad said there’s a ceasefire (between the two camps) after the March 31 coordination committee meeting and added that the demands of G7 would be put before Mrs Gandhi.
Stating that Mrs Gandhi is not in Delhi, he said he would submit his report as soon as possible. However, he also reportedly stated that he was unable to say when he would be able to submit the report to the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson. G7 is a pressure group of non-Congress
MLAs who are coalition partners of the alliance government.
“Madame (Mrs Gandhi) will decide what is to be done or not to be done”, Hariprasad said.
Asked whether there is still a fear of threat to the less-than-three-year old ministry, the AICC obsever answered in the negative. “Yes, there’s nothing to worry. Everything is under control”, he stated adding that there is no threat to the government.
Tough stand: Analysts feel that the Congress high command has taken a tough stand against the G7.
This stand was taken taking into consideration several aspects, sources in the Congress said. It would have set a bad precedent if the Congress high command had to give in to the demands of G7, they said. Particularly, the issue of change of leadership.
Whether the chief minister had to replaced or not, is to be decided by the Congress and not by the alliance partners. In fact, the NCP’s national spokesman Prakash Binsale had made this point two weeks ago – that change of leadership was the prerogative of the Congress.
Portfolios: The other demands of relieving Churchill Alemao of Public Works Department portfolio, Ravi Naik of home and Aleixo Sequeira of power, were found highly debatable and ridiculous as there was no public interest involved in their demand, the sources added. In fact, in the eyes of the Congress high command, Sequeira is seen as ‘a performing minister’ as, he has introduced several reforms in the power department as well as printing press department and even taken action against mining companies as minister for environment.
Sources said the thinking in the AICC was that if the demands of portfolio change had been immediately accepted then it would have had its effect in Maharashtra and even at the Centre sooner or later.
Precedent: Hence, the high command, by using delaying tactics has sent a clear message not only to G7 but also to others who use blackmailing manoeuvrings to get their pound of flesh, that it means business.
Perhaps realising that the situation was going out of control, the NCP high command also applied brakes much to the disgruntlement of the G7 members.
One NCP leader even rushed to New Delhi to impress upon the national leaders that they need to press with the Congress high command for acceptance of at least some demands, whether minor or not.
Not that nothing is going to happen. As several issues have been raised, indications are that a few issues would be sorted out, the sources said.
Nothing, however, is on the cards till now. Chief Minister Digambar Kamat yesterday also stated that there was no proposal for cabinet reshuffle as of now. The high command may ask the chief minister to effect some changes next week, the sources added.
Message: One thing however is clear: the Congress think tank has managed to push G7 to the wall. The high command has sent a clear message that though a veiled threat was given that they might withdraw support to the government, they would not budge and if required, would take them head-on. Unlike the past, the chief minister also made a bold statement that he would not cow down to anyone’s pressure.
However, some members of G7 are not willing to give up. According to sources in G7, the battle is far from over. Changes surely will take place, one of them said optimistically.
