PANJIM: Cultural closeness coupled with goodwill with the Dhavalikar brothers, acceptance amongst BJP leaders in Goa as well as sanctioning numerous mega infrastructural projects to the coastal State; have made Union Minister Nitin Gadkari the best bet when it comes to troubleshooting political crisis in the BJP-led coalition.
He has ensured that BJP sails smoothly in the State. The union minister has often air-dashed to Goa whenever the BJP plunged into crisis-like situation even in the middle of the night.
Not long ago, in the 2017 assembly elections Gadkari turned BJP’s defeat into victory while the single largest Congress party had still not realized it had lost an opportunity to form the government that slipped away from under their feet. The BJP had contested without the then Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, who was already elevated as the country’s Defense Minister in November 2014. BJP National President Amit Shah sent Gadkari to handle the situation. Under him, the BJP, which had four seats less (13 seats) than Congress (17 seats) began discussions to form a coalition government. He convinced regional parties and independent legislators to form and be part of a BJP-led government in the State.
Congress leader Digvijaya Singh had alleged that Gadkari went with ‘a suitcase’ to Goa and allegedly bribed legislators, to which the Central leader gave a befitting reply stating he fights and get things done, not by carrying any money.
This time too when former Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar passed away after battling cancer, Gadkari came as a major saviour to the BJP whose numbers in the Legislative Assembly had reduced further.
Swearing-in of the current government led by Pramod Sawant can be credited as yet another achievement of the senior BJP leader. He managed to convince the allies, who have been adamant to pit their own CM candidate, that Sawant will be Parrikar’s successor.
It was certainly not an easy task to bring consensus as MGP continued with its meetings and on the other side, Goa Forward Party President Vijai Sardesai along with his own party members and independent candidates (G-6) also began holding marathon meetings. The G-6 was joined by BJP’s Vishwajit Rane and Michael Lobo.
Gadkari flew down to Goa during the late hours on Sunday. He interacted individually with the MLAs in the coalition government amidst the State mourning their favourite politician’s death. MGP MLA Ramkrishna Dhavalikar demanded to be given the coveted post, while BJP Legislative party proposed the name of Sawant and G-6 supported Vishwajit Rane as CM candidate.
Gadkari could not bring consensus amongst the leaders till Monday morning and time was running out as over 24 hours had passed and Congress submitted its third letter to Goa Governor Mridula Sinha seeking an appointment to stake claim to form the government.
Till Monday evening when the final rites of the mortal remains of Parrikar was taking place at Miramar, consensus could not be worked out and Gadkari decided to leave claiming discussions with coalition partners was still on.
The turning point was when BJP National President Amit Shah, who flew down to Goa to pay his last respects to the departed former CM, post which he held a meeting with BJP MLAs and Dhavalikar at a starred hotel. Gadkari also stayed back. The two national leaders arrived at a formula wherein Sawant’s name was agreed as the next CM in exchange to Dhavalikar and Sardesai being designated as deputy CM. The alliance partners also suggested that status quo on the cabinet be maintained and all ministers would be sworn in again, which was agreed upon.
Gadkari then began to troubleshoot some last minute issues and at around 1.30 am on Tuesday, the decision to stake claim was taken and all the leaders including Gadkari rushed to Raj Bhavan. The swearing-in, which was earlier scheduled at 11 pm was delayed. The Governor, then formally invited the BJP led-group who had staked claim and the entire cabinet was sworn in around 1:48am. That marked the culmination of the drama that had unfolded over one day and two nights.
Gadkari hails from Nagpur in Maharashtra and is incidentally a family friend of Dhavalikars, whose party – MGP – is known to put successive governments in a tizzy.
The cultural similarity between Goa and Maharashtra is an added factor in favour of Gadkari who is also known for giving Rs 15,000 crore infrastructural projects under his ministry.
