If the local and senior leaders had studied what happened in Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and recently in neighbouring Maharashtra, Goa Congress would have been able to save at least some credibility that they lost in the last couple of days.
The Congress has been entirely caught up in BJP’s trap and exposed their political immaturity by filing disqualification petition against party’s senior most leaders Digambar Kamat and Michael Lobo. Kamat was State’s chief minister from 2007 to 2012 and was able to give the State a stable government after years.
The voters rejected Congress in 2012 but Kamat was not made Leader of Opposition. He was opposition leader for the last three years but it’s beyond imagination as to why the post was suddenly handed over to Michael Lobo, especially considering Lobo’s entry in Congress happened right when Assembly polls had approached the State’s doorsteps.
The Congress itself invited this situation by forming a group within the party by giving candidacy to Kedar Naik from Saligao, Rajesh Faldessai from Cumbarjua, Delilah Lobo from Siolim along with, of course, Michael Lobo.
After the last Assembly polls, 10 MLAs split from Congress and entered BJP. Now the case against them is pending in the Supreme Court and already another eight MLAs were reportedly heading for defection again. The public doesn’t seem to be surprised at the news. In fact, everyone was anticipating a split in the Congress again.
The split didn’t come to fruition but Congress lost its credibility merely within a few hours. BJP’s prime objective is to create Congress-free India and they will not leave a single opportunity to dent its reputation. BJP understands this image is created in people’s minds that Congress MLAs jumping into BJP ship has become a norm, Congress will lose the public support.
BJP takes great interest in projecting the message that Congress can be easily split. The events that occurred in the last two days pose questions Congress MLAs’ loyalty to the party, which is a success for the ruling saffron party and a tremendous loss for the opposition. Although Congress claims that particular MLAs have returned to the pavilion, a lot of effort has to be made to recover the lost ground.
Although panchayat elections are not contested at party level, Congress will suffer terribly since most of the party workers contest these polls. The voters may very well think why to vote for the ‘karyakartas’ of the party with no credibility whatsoever. It does look like Congress has already lost the battle even before it began.
The Congress has been short sighted with their decisions so far. They appointed Amit Patkar as party’s state president and Lobo as opposition leader, which is enough to prove that they are not serious enough about politics.
To survive in politics, a long-term plan needs to be in place for any political party. Congress needs to take steps now if it aims to rebound in next Assembly elections. They need to raise people’s questions and make the government answer to their questions. Instead of paying too much attention to what party MLAs are doing, the focus should be on rebuilding the party and then rewarding the deserving workers with tickets for contesting next polls.
The importing of candidates should be avoided. Congress will have a future only if they carefully and genuinely take wise decisions or it won’t be long before everything turns to dust. The beginning of the end has started but no one from the Congress is paying attention to it. The focus is largely on gaining power and the very desire for the power is damaging the party.
