G7 fumes as Cong plays own tunes
HERALD CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI, APRIL 1
Chief Minister Digambar Kamat returned to Goa on Thursday with yet another laugh at his detractors drawing blank in their attempt to unseat him as the Congress leadership stood by him, cold-shouldering their machinations.
Congress General Secretary B K Hariprasad was, however, careful in not rejecting their demands outright as he said the Congress leadership has been conveyed the demands they put up at a State coordination committee meeting here on Wednesday and it is now for the party to consider them and take appropriate decisions.
He rang up NCP General Secretary Praful Patel late Wednesday night, calling off the second coordination committee meeting tentatively fixed here on Thursday, informing him that he has spoken to Sonia Gandhi and he was advised not to hurry up with another meeting.
No use pressing for another meeting when the Congress is yet to take the decision on the issues raised at Wednesday’s meeting, the NCP sources said, pointing out that most of those who had come here in expectation of a final solution to the problems dogging the coalition government took flights to Mumbai Thursday morning.
The detractors, however, appeared in a revolting mood as they affirm that the Congress cannot push under carpet the issues on which they are agitating. They talked about chalking out the next strategy on return to Goa and show the Congress that it cannot postpone burning issues in this manner.
Panjim adds: NCP leaders denied that it’s a setback for G7 that the Congress preferred to take the decision on the current political imbroglio on Monday.
“No (it’s not a setback). Not at all, our leader Praful Patel told us that as Mrs Sonia Gandhi was not available, we should return to Goa till the Congress High Command gets back to them,” Revenue Minister and leader of NCP’s legislative wing Jose Philip D’Souza told Herald on Thursday. He further said they would wait till Monday.
In all probability, the Congress High Command will convey its decision on the issues tabled before it by G7 through NCP, by Monday.
B K Hariprasad said that as Mrs Gandhi was not in Delhi, there could be no meeting with her. Nonetheless, an appointment would be taken to meet her at the earliest, he added.
Fed-up!: Sources in All India Congress Committee (AICC) said that the Congress central leadership including Mrs Gandhi is virtually fed-up with the frequent political upheavals Goa has been witnessing for long. In this backdrop, it is not clear whether the High Command has given a cold-shoulder to G7, in consultation with some NCP leaders in Delhi.
However, political observers say that it would be hard for the High Command not to respond to the G7 demands.
THREAT: Reports in political circles say that some members of G7 have given a veiled threat to the Congress that they should not be held responsible if they withdraw support to the government if nothing materialises by Tuesday.
One angry member is learnt to have said that the Congress should stop testing their patience and indicated that they can join hands with BJP to form a new government.
How plausible this is, is difficult to fathom as there is no unanimity over this issue.
Sources however said that some in the BJP are eagerly watching the situation even as some members of G7 are in touch with BJP leaders, denials notwithstanding.
BJP: Incidentally, Opposition leader Manohar Parrikar today “warned” that he would go to the Governor next week to demand dissolution of the House.
Analysts feel that this statement has political connotation. The BJP had earlier described the fight between Congress and G7 as a quarrel between husband and wife. “How can a neighbour intervene in such a fight?” was their contention. That was before the session. Apparently, there were much expectation that there would be chaos and political upheaval during the session leading to a situation of no-return for the Congress.
But that didn’t happen as the Congress managers handled the situation efficiently, convincing the NCP that the priority should be to pass the Budget. And that was exactly what happened.
The Congress High Command trying to take its own time to resolve the issue, seems to have angered some of the G7 members, who were gunning for the scalp of the chief minister besides that of three ministers – Churchill Alemao, Aleixo Sequeira and Ravi Naik.
History: Hence, some members of G7 are so desperate that they don’t mind aligning with BJP in an attempt to form a new government. Perhaps for this reason, some in the BJP are also living with hope that it could be a repeat of 1999 – when BJP formed an alliance government headed by Francisco Sardinha. One thing is certain: for the Congress, it is not going to be an easy task to resolve the imbroglio.
