The Congress charge sheet on the performance of the BJP-led government in the State takes up a number of issues and is strongly worded. It takes on the government on issues from the delay in notifying the Regional Plan, to the mess on the medium of instruction, to the failure to move the offshore casinos from the River Mandovi, to the closure of iron ore mining operations and various other issues. It speaks of a ‘betrayal of trust, faith of the people of Goa’ who voted the BJP to power and the pain that the Congress is going through as it watches the manner in which the State has been governed over the past four years.
What Congress did admit was that it has learnt from past mistakes and is now prepped up to ‘meet the expectations of the people so as to regain their faith’. But while the admission was in the charge sheet, on the dais it was the same old faces that sat and stood together for the release of the charge sheet, many of them being those who lost in the 2012 elections or even in earlier elections. When the President of the State party unit has repeatedly said that youth and new faces will be given tickets in the next election, the prominence of the old guard at party functions does not inspire confidence that there will be changes in the Congress.
By its own admission, Congress has made mistakes. It has had over four years to rectify them but the time doesn’t appear to have been spent wisely. There were only two MLAs present when releasing the charge sheet and they were the oldest of the party’s MLAs. The young and new faces that are being talked about were hardly visible on the dais. In the absence of youth the party can hardly claim that it is ready to meet the people’s expectations. The people are looking for a breath of fresh air and Congress, that has just eight MLAs in the current Assembly, is in a position to give the voters new faces from which to choose their next constituency representative. That is going to be a challenge for the Congress that it has to accept and meet.
Congress has to grasp the advantage and begin to introduce its candidates to the electorate, especially the new faces. It can’t, as it has done in the past, wait until the election notification is published to begin announcing the names of the candidates. Early announcement of names gives the candidate more time to prepare for the poll and the electorate a better chance to evaluate the candidates. From past lessons learnt, surely this would be one of them. A last minute scramble by the candidate in organizing their campaign leaves gaps in the strategy that could make the difference between victory and loss. As it strives to make a return to the seat of governance, it has to strike while it is in an advantageous position.
And at the present time time, it is, to some extent, advantage Congress. The latest poll that predicts that Congress will win between 13 to 17 seats, gives it a boost that could attract more dynamic youth to the party. It is for the Congress to turn this into an advantage. Merely releasing a charge sheet on the government will not strengthen its case before the people’s court. A charge sheet has to be proved and the next few months are going to test whether Congress can make it charges against the government stick before the people’s court. That is what will decide the fate of the party and whether people are ready to accept it as a party that can turn around the fortunes of Goa.
