The discontent among sections of the BJP cadre in Cumbharjua over the induction of a long time rival of the Congress, Pandurang Madkaikar into the party, was only to be expected. However the mini uprising in Cumbharjua assumes much greater significance because in the forefront of this discontent is the son of the BJP’s North Goa MP and union Minister Shripad Naik.
The gathering of BJP workers including those from the BJP Yuva morcha demanding that Siddesh Naik be “permitted” by Shripad to contest as an independent, if Pandurang Madkaikar was given the BJP ticket, doesn’t not augur well for the party. While the senior Naik, has put up a disciplined front saying that he will take the grievances of workers to the core committee and that workers should desist from committing acts which would embarrass the party, he is seething at the decision to induct Madkaikar. He had, speaking to Dainik Herald (Herald’s sister publication) over the weekend said “Inducting Madkaikar is a sin but I am not party to this sin”.
Unlike in 2012, when Shripad Naik, backed out gracefully from Porvorim when the ticket was denied to him, he is unwilling to let the decision to induct Madkaikar and give him the ticket, and that too denying his son, go unchallenged. But knowing Shripad Naik, his hardline has less to do with his connections and more because the leadership is finding itself being forced to defend the induction of ex-Congress MLA Pandurag Madkaikar in the party with a ticket to contest.
The discontent has been heightened because former Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar had asked the Anti-Corruption Bureau to probe the manner in which Madkaikar proposed a land allotment for a police station and then went on to buy that same land, an act which the former CM had termed as seemingly corrupt.
Notwithstanding, which way la affaire Madkaikar goes, it is clear that he will not get the ready-made BJP cadre to back him lock stock and barrel, when crucial sections actually want him out, lock, stock and barrel. The situation could get murkier, if the MGP and the BBSM, waiting in the wings to lap up anyone who is unhappy with the BJP or its decisions, offer a ticket to Shripad Naik’s son.
One must also keep in mind that though Shripad Naik is a soldier of the party first, he may be finding it difficult to sacrifice his personal political ambitions any further. He considers himself at par with Parrikar, on the leadership scale and claims to have a greater base among backward caste voters. He naturally feels that with Parrikar ensconced in Delhi, the mantle of Chief Ministership should be passed onto him.
Therefore, the act of inducting a controversial graft accused Congress MLA with the likelihood of giving him a party ticket, in his sons constituency, is seen as direct challenge and message to the Naik family, that their aspirations do not quite matter.
While it is unlikely that Shripad Naik himself will take the ultimate step of leaving the party, citing this “insult”, he will do nothing to crush the discontent against Madkaikar. He may even go to the extent of officially distancing himself from his son’s possible decision to go with MGP, though this hasn’t been spoken of at all, but allow it to happen nevertheless.
Either way these developments cannot be pleasing to anybody in the BJP, much less those in charge of the election campaign. It is vital that the workers of Cumbharjua get an audience and hearing at the highest quarters and that the party must convince them of their decision. That looks extremely unlikely at the present moment.
The BJP is already set to face a strong MGP in Dabolim where another Congress turncoat Mauvin Godinho will be the BJP candidate. Cumbharjua is likely to follow suit.
