The National Democratic Alliance Presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind’s victory was a foregone conclusion. The numbers in the electoral college were always in his favour and Congress-led opposition candidate Meira Kumar could hardly be expected to spring a surprise. She knew this yet entered the fray calling for a ‘conscience vote’. In the end, Kovind got two-thirds of the vote – 65.65 percent – far more than the NDA had in the electoral college that is made up of MLAs and MPs. And that is what has raised eyebrows, the cross voting across the country that gave Kovind a much bigger victory than could be expected.
In Goa, Kovind’s election has thrown the opposition Congress in a tizzy as the party that has 16 MLAs in the State Legislative Assembly, was embarrassed when the votes for the Presidential poll were counted and Meira Kumar got just 11. The analysis of the result indicate that there could have been four Congress MLAs who cross voted and one whose vote was declared invalid. With the election being by secret ballot, the possibility of identifying the Congress MLAs who voted for the NDA candidate are dim, though the party is already speculating on who some of the possible dissidents could be.
Various names have been going around, however, as Leader of the Opposition Chandrakant Kavalekar has said, “This is something shocking. Yes, we doubted some, but trusted all.” It is this mixture of doubt and trust that the Congress needs to work upon, and trust their members more and doubt them less.
Rumblings in the Congress were evident even before the election, arising during the campaign for the Presidential poll. Unlike Kovind who flew to Goa and met the BJP MLAs and their allies, Meira Kumar did not campaign in Goa. She addressed the Goa Congress MLAs in Mumbai along with the Maharashtra Congress MLAs. But that meeting was attended by just five of the 16 Congress MLAs from Goa. They were Kavalekar, Poriem MLA Pratapsingh Rane, Navelim MLA Luizinho Faleiro, Ponda MLA Ravi Naik and St Cruz MLA Tony Fernandes. So the chances of Congress MLAs cross voting were already evident.
It is now for the Congress leadership in Goa – Leader of the Opposition Chandrakant Kavalekar and Goa Pradesh Congress Committee President Shantaram Naik – to take serious note of the dissidence in the party and keep the flock together. For Naik, who grabbed hold of the reins of the party just this month, the Presidential election was a test of his leadership abilities, but an even more acid test is coming up immediately and it is the Rajya Sabha election, where he himself is the Congress candidate. After the debacle of the Presidential poll, can Congress expect to fare better in the election to the lone Rajya Sabha seat from Goa where the GPCC President faces the State BJP President Vinay Tendulkar?
Kavalekar has already said he will recommend action against the dissidents but the damage to the party has already been done. Since the elections results in March this year, Congress has been facing a series of setbacks, starting with the party’s failure to wrest the initiative and form the government after emerging as the single largest party. The resignation of Vishwajit Rane followed soon after, and earlier this month the replacement of Luizinho Faleiro as the State unit President. However, the change in the party leadership does not appear to have given Congress a new direction or strengthened it.
The leadership change came about as the Congress wanted to form a government and that it would be in a better position to do so with a new GPCC President. After the fiasco of the Presidential election, how does Congress hope to achieve this?
