In an election that the BJP hopes to win, even if it falls short of a majority, there is one man who has the right to feel a little short changed. Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar.
From a time when he was going to be the face of the campaign and the obvious Chief Ministerial candidate, the ground reality shifted to him leading the campaign, with the choice of the person for the top job to be decided by MLA’s. Every political watcher worth his salt knows that these choices are not made by MLA’ but by the party leadership. And the BJP leadership of late has started giving clear signals that if the BJP forms the government, then Laxmikant Parsekar, is unlikely to be their candidate.
This position is actually fine with Parsekar, who has said that this isn’t a position he would lose sleep over. But what is trifle out of place is that as elections approach, it appears that the party has gone from being neutral about Mr Parsekar’s second term, to having almost decided that it would prop up a different CM. And that has been taken further with Union Minister Mr Nitin Gadkari saying that if a CM is not found from Goa, the centre would send a CM, which effectively boils down to union ministers, Mr Parrikar and Mr Mr Sripad Naik.
Very interestingly, neither of them have dismissed the possibility. While Mr Naik said that he is ready to take up the responsibility, Mr Parrikar has said that the he would cross the cross the bridge when he came to it. It is widely known that Mr Parrikar prefers to be in Goa than in Delhi. And Sripad Naik will be happiest coming back home.
But the larger takeaway from these statements is whether the party is playing the P- Parrikar card, to arrest the vote and seat slip. Even today the Defence Minister is the only magnet which can stop vote erosion and help recall those who have gone against the party. So was the idea of getting a “CM from the centre” floated casually but cleverly to lift up the morale of cadres and get them to campaign with gusto?
Unlike in 2012, this time there is no wave. The BJP has had to hit the road and do this the old fashioned way of re-convincing voters to believe that the wave of 2012, was not a thing of the past and to do that, they needed the face of that wave to position himself as someone who is not averse to returning to lead the state.
This could also be posturing to see what the reactions are, since Mr Parrikar has been out of the state for two and a half years now. And based on the effect this has on the campaign, the way forward in this department will be chalked out.
As far as Mr Parsekar goes, his immediate task will be to get sufficient seats. To hand over the baton, he needs to be on the track. And that itself is a major challenge for him. Circumstances catapulted him to power and position. Will the journey on the road to power now mean that he will have to lose his number 1 position?
