The Deputy Speaker of Goa Legislative Assembly was elected on the last day of the session, thereby openly revealing that the Opposition is not united. Political parties like Aam Aadmi Party and Revolutionary Goans MLAs abstained from voting for the Deputy Speaker.
Even though the Opposition unitedly discussed and followed some issues in Assembly and was united on certain issues, it only seemed to be a temporary affair. Once the issue got over, everyone had their own personal calculations and agenda. Now, the government need not face the Assembly until the next session is called for. Hence, the Opposition does not have a chance to grill or question the government on the floor of the House.
The ruling faction managed to keep its hold right from reducing the number of days for the Assembly session and also getting its Deputy Speaker candidate elected. There is enough scope to allege that the Opposition failed to raise people’s issues in Assembly. Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai single-handedly did his part in bits. Curtorim Independent MLA Alexio Reginald Laurenco who would otherwise attack the government, was silent in this session as he is now a part of the government.
Margao Congress MLA Digambar Kamat, when he was the Leader of Opposition, would rely on information tabled in the House, information gathered under RTI to keep a watch on the government. He would effectively impress others with his precise words forcing the government to agree with him, most of the time.
The recent political turmoil within the Congress party just before the Assembly session must have upset Kamat. Hence, he was not seen in his usual form. During this session Congress also submitted a letter removing Calangute MLA Michael Lobo from the post of Leader of Opposition but failed to elect a new leader.
As expected, the condition helped the ruling faction. If one assesses how the Opposition raised the people’s voice in Assembly, one needs to admit that the public was disappointed. A tally of 15 out of 40 MLAs in Opposition is quite a strong number. But due to lack of coordination they were not able to raise their voice strongly in the House.
First time MLA Sankalp Amonkar attacked the government in his own style, but did not gather enough support from others. Capt Venzy Viegas’ insightful description was worth to the ears, as he gave ample examples to support his claims. However, there is a style of discussing issues in Assembly and it requires experience.
In earlier days, Ramakant Khalap, Kashinath Zalmi etc. would pull up their opposition with the immense information they had. Dr Chandrakant Shetye from Bicholim is an eye surgeon and raised issues which proved that his vision is quite sharp. The Poriem MLA Deviya Rane did succeed in asserting that she is standing firmly for her constituency.
These MLAs are more likely to improve in coming Assembly sessions. If we assess how the BJP got to the number 20 in Assembly, it can be concluded that they benefited from the vote split within the Opposition. Neither the Opposition parties, nor the MLAs have learnt a lesson from this.
More recently, it was presumed that the NDA candidate for President of India would get 25 votes from the state. The ruling faction included 20 BJP MLAs, 2 MGP MLAs, and 3 Independent MLAs. The remaining 15 are supposed to be the Opposition that included 11 Congressmen, 2 AAP MLAs, and one each from Goa Forward and RG. However, Draupadi Murmu got 28 votes proving cross voting and a divided Opposition.
Three MLAs chose to abstain from voting during the Deputy Speaker’s election. It is amply clear that the Opposition leaders do not want to come under the umbrella of Congress. Obviously, division in the Opposition faction is the strength of the ruling section.
