Dabolim MLA to quit Congress, join BJP in 4 months
Reached a point of no return, says Mauvin Godinho
SUJAY GUPTA/ TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
DABOLIM: As a young Congressman in the early eighties, Mauvin Godinho found himself on top of a hill in a village not far from Kohima, Nagaland, along with Rajesh Pilot, Purno Sangma and other blue-eyed boys of Rajiv Gandhi. They were campaigning and it was getting dark. As tribal Naga warriors approached menacingly with spears and swords, their chopper arrived in the nick of time to airlift the leaders, even as Naga tribesmen unleashed arrows at the chopper from their bows rapidly plucked from their quivers.
25 years later, Mauvin Godinho finds himself in the same situation in Goa. This time though, the arrows are being fired from the collective quivers of Goa’s Congressmen. And the helicopter hovering above, giving him the lifeline, the rescue ride and a new flight to his political career, is commandeered by Chief Minister Parrikar. Herald has reliably learnt that in about four months, Mauvin Godinho will join the BJP, give up his seat as an MLA and re-contest the Dabolim by poll on a BJP ticket.
While this was in the realm of speculation, it has now reached a point of no return. The question is when and not if, and it has come to such a passé because of a variety of factors. But first on what will happen. The Dabolim MLA will await the Lok Sabha results, especially in south Goa to assess the impact of his “work” against the Congress and for the BJP for the south Goa seat. At the same time, he is holding worker meetings and preparing a team for the by-elections. And then, he needs time to mend fences with the some of the BJP local cadre. However, none of this will affect the decision to shift parties, but may alter the time for the switch.
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Speaking to the Herald on the issue he said “I have reached a point of no return with the Congress. I haven’t yet made up my mind fully about joining the BJP, but I do know that I will be in active politics for another 10 years and do something for the state. The Congress has systematically tried to cut me, to prevent my leadership emerging.”
But Manohar Parrikar and Mauvin Godinho make strange bedfellows. Godinho, at the insistence of leaders like Luzinho Faleiro and Digambar Kamat filed the FIR against Parrikar, on what is known as the IFFI scam. In fact, pressure was applied by none other than Sonia Gandhi who told Godinho as he walked into the living room of 10 Janpath “I didn’t know you were a coward Mauvin, file that FIR.” Mauvin replied “Madam, I have risked my life for the Congress, but will your leaders take this FIR to its conclusion.” A year later it is learnt that some crucial paragraphs were dropped from the CAG report on IFFI irregularities with Congressmen pulling the strings to dilute the attack on Parrikar.
Then of course, there is this power case, a section of it or one specific case which still remains in the Supreme Court. Godinho says that he was never personally indicted by the court by the decision to revise power tariff subsidies without sending the file to cabinet, which was a bureaucratic error. While the jury may still be out on that one, two people- Parrikar and Godinho, who had moved legally against each other have politically moved very close.
The Congress is in no position to digest Mauvin nor swallow his challenge. Attempts have been made to placate him (inside details of which will be a part of the next part of this story) and when that failed, the Congress announced a probe into all of his “benami properties”.
However, the Congress’ only face from Goa in the darbar of the Gandhis once upon a time, will have to traverse the thorny path when he joins the BJP, including facing the biggest question in Salcete- his clear stand on the Mopa airport and his support for Dabolim. Some of his past actions will make answering this more difficult than he can ever imagine. Watch this space.
Tomorrow – Part 2
