The Director of Municipal Administration Elvis Gomes, the bureaucrat who is on the top of the timelines of every news run down and news list in the media for opting to quit the government in disgust, and nurse his political ambition, was probably named after the iconic star Elvis Presley arguably the greatest ever songwriter and singer.
Elvis Gomes, a music lover probably remembers these lines from one of Presley’s biggest hits “Suspicious Minds” when evaluating his relationship with the government he serves
We can’t go on togetherWith suspicious mindsAnd we can’t build our dreamsOn suspicious minds
However, his desire to quit as he is most certainly headed into the hurly burly of electoral politics assumes significance, beyond his suspicion of the government. He isn’t just an officer who has upped the ante against a government which has treated him unfairly. Gomes is a quintessential insider who knows not just the workings of government but of virtually every politician. He is the keeper of deep dark secrets. One of his political opponents in Cuncolim may well be his former departmental boss. And the fact that his new political journey may not be on road travelled by the two mainstream parties makes him a damaging proposition to them.
Late on Saturday evening, the officer who has sought VRS met people in his backyard to check if they were “Calling Elvis”. As the saga of the FIR lodged against him when he is due to be promoted to the IAS very shortly is played out, this government needs to seriously introspect whether its strategy of cherry picking on corruption cases to nullify potential political threats will work or is it past its sell by date. Therefore as an FIR is filed against Churchill Alemao, pending for close to two years, or as you see a new energy in the Louis Berger bribery investigations against Digambar Kamat or this fresh FIR against Elvis Gomes and his then Chairman of the Housing Board, Nilkant Haldankar for their alleged involvement in the ‘Housing Board’ scam, the stink of politics is all pervasive.
If this government was serious about corruption the FIR against ex GIDC Chairman Babu Kavlekar for the alleged illegal transfer of GIDC plots, the role of Alemao in the allotment of PWD short tenders as minister, the petrol pump scam which Manohar Parrikar promised to investigate against Pandurang Madkaikar and criminal complaints against some of its own ministers should have been conducted and completed. Instead we have a government which reinstates the Chief Minister’s brother-in-law, caught red handed accepting a bribe for the allotment of a GIDC plot. The one desiring the plot had probably no option but to trap the bribe taker but till today there is no sign of his plot either.
The ruling party needs to really look over its shoulder to and deep within to tap and notice discontent among government servants. A pay commission hike and other sops may not be able to contain a section of government officers who see elected representatives from the panchayat to the zilla to the Assembly, make money hand over fist. The frustration is bound to explode.
The war against corruption waged by the BJP is a fake war fought on the principle of scaring opponents, not weeding out corruption. It’s unlikely they will win this.
