Bharatiya Janata Party had been the only one that had not suffered from the syndrome of defections and resignations this Assembly term. On the other hand it had gained in strength throughout the term, right from the first sitting of the Assembly itself, when Valpoi MLA Vishwajit Rane had quit the Congress minutes after taking oath as MLA and later joined the BJP. The party had kept on adding to its numbers since then. That record of the BJP ended when on December 16, its Cortalim MLA Alina Saldanha resigned her membership of the Legislative Assembly and of the party. She became the first of the BJP MLAs to quit this term, but there was a twist as the party released a letter dated the previous day expelling her from the BJP. Besides, getting back the upper hand, for the BJP the expulsion would also lead to stall the plans of any other MLAs from resigning, as speculation on more resignations has the political grapevine humming.
Saldanha’s resignation or expulsion does not affect the party in the Assembly as Goa is just weeks away from the announcement of fresh election dates as the term of the current Assembly comes to an end in March 2022. The probability of a session of the Assembly before the elections is low, and even if there is one the resignation will not reduce the party’s majority in the House as there have been four other resignations of MLAs of other opposition parties. Saldanha’s exit, therefore, does not dent the party strength, but the party’s reputation of being able to keep its flock together has taken a big knock. In this the expulsion letter alleges that she was making comments against party policies in public fora.
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Ironically, Saldanha’s exit comes a few hours after Minister Milind Naik quit the cabinet following allegations from the Congress of his alleged involvement in a sex scandal. The Minister said he resigned to enable a free probe in the case and Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant who accepted the minister’s resignation said the evidence would be investigated thoroughly. Two resignations – a minister from the cabinet and a MLA from the party – on two consecutive days places a huge question mark over the claimed discipline of members that the Bharatiya Janata Party took pride in always. Does it exist any longer? Saldanha, accused now of having spoken against the party, said that the BJP is not the same anymore. That is something that the BJP will have to reflect upon in the coming days as the party has changed a lot from what it was in the past.
There, however, are lessons for the party, especially in the resignation of Saldanha who voiced out her reasons for quitting. For instance, Saldanha spoke of people’s houses being destroyed in the name of development. She was essentially referring to the double tracking of the South West Railway line due to which heritage house of people are in peril. Many of these houses that would come under the bulldozer, are situated in villages of her constituency and she has been under pressure from her constituents to take a stand. Not that she has not spoken out against the double tracking in the past, she has, but her interventions have been ineffective as her party disregarded her opinion on the three linear projects just as it did overlook the protests over them. Were these some of the instances that the party referred to when saying she spoke against party policies? She was only voicing out what her constituents were saying and that was part of her duty. Saldanha now states that her fight against these projects will continue and has joined the Aam Aadmi Party. Will her new party allow her to speak freely?
