Come elections, and it is time for mud-slinging, allegations and counter allegations, not only of corruption but even of sex scandals. In this age of social media, each and every move or action of a political figure is keenly watched, discussed and debated in the print and electronic media. In fact, the news travels like wildfire, leaving the politician hard to explain or deny any act of commission or omission. This is particularly so in Goa where being a small State, everybody knows everybody and there is plenty of scope for gossiping.
Not long ago, Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco, the then Congress MLA from Curtorim was in the limelight. Poor Reginaldo is reported to have been to a hotel around midnight for what he later clarified, was to have a dinner with a poll strategist working for the Congress party (whom he has not named). He has denied to having met or had discussion of any sort with Devendra Fadnavis, Goa BJP election In-charge and Dr Pramod Sawant, Chief Minister who were coincidently also present in the same hotel. All the same, the news did cause ripples in the political circles. Already, earlier, Reginaldo was a “suspect” as it was rumoured that he was about to desert the Congress ship and embrace Arvind Kejriwal’s, Aam Admi Party. In a swift move, the Congress High Command placated him by appointing him as one of the two “Working Presidents” of Goa Congress. He later did quit the Congress to join the TMC.
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This reminds me of a very humourous episode that took place in the days of the MGP regime headed by the late Bhausaheb Bandodkar. Sometime during 1972, there was shortage of rice in the country, Goa included, and those with influence, made a beeline to the National Capital for import of rice from the Himalayan Kingdom of Nepal. One of the Goan businessmen, who managed to get import licence, was the late Damodar Naik (popularly known as “Dambab”), the then treasurer and the most faithful office bearer of MGP. In order to complete the import formalities, Dambab had to make a special trip to Delhi. He had never been to Delhi before and was making his first visit beyond the shores of Goa. He had hardly any knowledge of Delhi, its landmarks and climatic conditions.
My good friend, the late P C Sancoalcar, the then Accounts Officer, attached to Finance Department (who in 1990s served with distinction as the Director of Accounts) accompanied by the late C S Tari, the then Superintendent in Secretariat, were traveling to Delhi by the same flight for doing the Audit of the Goa Government Guest House located at Curzon road hostel on Kasturba Gandhi Marg. All three, including Dambab, were booked to stay in the guesthouse. On reaching Delhi airport, the audit team hired an auto to reach the guesthouse. However, there was no sign of Dambab even after more than an hour. When finally he did arrive at the guesthouse, everyone was curious to know whether being a first timer; Dambab had been taken for a ride by taxi/auto driver, which is otherwise very common in Delhi.
What was subsequently narrated was indeed quite amusing. When Dambab commanded the driver to take him to “Goa House”, he was dropped at 13, Windsor Place, a government bungalow then occupied by the late Purushottam Kakodkar, the then President, Goa Pradesh Congress Committee who was elected to the Lok Sabha from North Goa Parliamentary Constituency for one term. It was not the driver’s fault as Kakodkar had hoisted a big “Goa House” signboard above the bungalow. No sooner Dambab pressed the door bell, to his utter shock and surprise, he saw Kakodkar open the door. Ignoring the pleas of Kakodkar to come in, Dambab started running out of the bungalow, took out the address of the Goa Government guesthouse, hired another auto and managed to reach the correct destination. He later confided in Sancoalcar that if only Bhau (meaning Bandodkar) came to know that he had met Kakodkar, he will be “finished”.
Here, it needs to be recalled for the benefit of the readers, that in the first post-liberation election held in 1963 to the 30-member Goa, Daman and Diu Legislative Assembly, the Congress party headed by the late Purushottam Kakodkar was completely routed, and the newly-formed MG Party headed by the late Bhausaheb Bandodkar, who championed the cause of Goa’s merger with Maharashtra (which Goans wisely rejected in the Opinion Poll held in 1967), was unexpectedly voted to power. Since then, the rivalry between the two stalwarts was more personal than political, so much so that when Kakodkar performed the “disappearing act”, the word was spread around that Bandodkar had “finished” him, until Kakodkar was suddenly traced in one of the ashrams in Rishikesh.
