Tardy Congress still struggling to make a mark

Faleiro has clearly said that Singh stopped him from giving a letter to the Governor staking claim to form the government, and that in protest he refused the post of Congress Legislative Party leader that was offered to him. Faleiro has also said he is not in the running for a party ticket for the Lok Sabha polls, following some speculation that he may be the party’s nominee.

This frank admission by the MLA, who was the frontrunner from the party for the post of chief minister in 2017 after having led the Congress to becoming the single largest party in the Assembly, opens up the debate once again of how tardiness on the part of the Congress on the night after the results led to the Bharatiya Janata Party forging a coalition of all the other non-Congress MLAs and staking claim to form the government. Soon after this there had been speculation that it had indeed been Singh who had put a spoke in the Congress plans to form a government. This has now been confirmed.

A very pertinent statement from Faleiro says that the party had promised that it will form the government in 24 hours, but 24 months later there is no sign of the Congress having made any move to form the government. In the past two years, the party has regularly claimed that it was the single largest party, and met the Governor with requests to allow it to prove its majority. It got 17 MLAs elected in March 2017, lost an MLA immediately with the resignation of Vishwajit Rane, but still retained its single largest party status. After October last year, Congress was brought down to 14 members with the resignations of two of its MLAs – Subhash Shirodkar and Dayanand Sopte – to come on par with BJP, but now, following the death of BJP MLA Francis D’Souza, Congress is again the single largest. Can the party prove its majority in the House that has been currently reduced to 37 members?

It appears unlikely, given that the party has not shown any exemplary floor management in the past. During the Budget session of the Assembly in January last, when the vote of account was being taken in the House, the opposition party did not even make an effort to seek a division, and the bills were all passed by voice vote. It did not have the numbers on its side to defeat a bill, but if it expects to be taken seriously as an opposition party the least that is expected from it is putting the government on the mat in the House. It failed here, just as it failed two years ago in forming the government. That, however, should not stop the party from fulfilling its duties as an opposition party.

With the Lok Sabha elections weeks away and the by-elections to the three Assembly seats also expected soon, BJP is already firm on who will its candidates be for the polls, with the exception of perhaps Mapusa that has fallen vacant less than a week ago. Congress on the other hand does not appear to have even finalised its candidates for Mandem and Shiroda. There is also no clarity on its candidates for the Parliamentary polls. Congress, if it intends to make a bid for power after the by-polls, has to get moving quickly.