Having taken the plunge to not only induct but give BJP tickets to Mauvin Godinho and Pandurang Madkaikar, the BJP realises that they have taken a huge political gamble which they hope will pay off. The consequences of failure will be beyond the loss of seats. Questions will be asked why two Congress MLAs, against whom corruption related inquiries are going on, were taken into the party. If they win though and contribute to a stable BJP led government, all will be forgotten, this success will have many friends.
Thus it is obvious that the need to reach across the fence and shop for Congress MLAs was borne out of a serious felt need that the BJP would get under par seats. In a disastrous election, this might fall well below the half way mark. But in an election where a deeply splintered anti-BJP opposition may nudge the BJP towards the half way mark, these acquisitions will become crucial. For instance the BJP had next to nothing chances of winning Cumbharjua and Dabolim. With Madkaikar in Cumbharjua, its chances of getting that seat, has increased and the same goes for Dabolim.
These are decisions that have been accepted by the party, because for now nothing but winning seats to form a government matters. In any other time, hardened politicians like Mr Parrikar would have thought multiple times before accepting an MLA who he openly accused of corruption on the floor of the House and ordered an inquiry by the Anti Corruption Bureau, which is still probing the case.
The sudden downslide in the relationship between the BJP and the MGP, also contributed the hastening of closing political deals with Congress MLAs. Internally, sections of the party, though rattled and upset with the barrage of insults and attacks on the Chief Minister, would have hoped that a complete split could be avoided. However, with Sudin Dhavalikar openly demanding a change of Chief Minister while continuing to remain in the party, the BJP’s hand was forced.
This decision though has resulted in the BJP being forced to compromise and getting Pandurang Madkaikar is nothing short of a compromise.
But its wish list doesn’t end here. Though Babu Kavlekar now appears to have moved back to the Congress fold, overtures were made to him of a very serious nature, using both the carrot, and sources say, even the ‘stick policy’. Lest we forget, there is a disproportionate assets case against him pending with the Anti Corruption Bureau.
Porvorim MLA Rohan Khuante, started off his term by backing the BJP government. While it looks increasingly likely that Khaunte may take the independent route, let’s just say that the last hasn’t yet been heard in the matter.
A difficult situation for the BJP has not yet turned into a disastrous one because of the twin factors of the Congress not getting its act together and putting together a fresh looking winning team and secondly the Aam Aadmi Party – which the BJP has not attacked at all in spite of being attacked in speeches and trolled in social media by AAP’s keyboard army – has done enough ground work to split and in some cases even take over Congress votes. This has, at the cost of repetition, helped the BJP stay above water. All it is doing now is trying to build cushion, in case of unexpected setbacks and with the future of its relationship with MGP extremely fluid.
This is a huge change from 2012 when BJP welcomed allies out of respect for their pre-poll commitments. This time infusions from other parties and back door help by some other parties and independents planted to split votes, will become compulsions for success.
