Team Herald
PANJIM: The Manohar Parrikar-led alliance government appears to have sailed through the first three days of the winter session of the Goa Legislative Assembly through systematic floor management and with Congress scoring a few self goals.
Before the short winter session of the Goa Legislative Assembly could begin, the opposition Congress had claimed they would expose the government on various issues like coal, river nationalisation and new PDAs.
As things stood, it should have been possible for the opposition to corner the government on crucial issue of coal and rivers following public outrage. However, as in the past, the chief minister seems to have outdone the opponents with deft handling of the situation.
While the issue of river nationalisation is scheduled to come up on Monday for discussion, the CM turned th coal argument on its head by depicting how successive Congress governments cleared coal expansion projects in Goa.
The only valid arguments came in from within the BJP – Deputy Speaker Michael Lobo – who demanded an assurance from the government to reduce coal handling at MPT by 25 percent.
The Congress, on the other hands, attacked sporadically. Former chief minister Ravi Naik, with his new found vigour did show signs that he would put the ruling, and especially his bete-noire RND Minister Ramkrishna (Sudin) Dhavalikar, on the mat. However, on the coal issue, he didn’t quite use this vigour to score points.
The CM not only answered to allegations but produced documentary evidence to prove that all permissions were granted during the Congress governments.
Congress MLAs ended up throwing the entire coal argument off track when one of their members claimed that he could not recognise his white cat which had turned black due to coal pollution.
TCP Minister Vijai Sardesai, Revenue Minister Rohan Khaunte and the Chief Minister were quick to grab the opportunity to ridicule Congress on the issue. “How can the cat turn black when the MLA’s white hair remained as it is?” asked the CM. He joked, “Maybe either his neighbour’s cat would have come to his house or he must have gone to his neighbour’s place.” This statement of the CM brought much laughter.
The debate also gave Goa Forward Minister Sardesai an opportunity to put forth his opinion on coal. Sardesai had been criticised for his silence on the coal issue. However, the minister said that he was still against pollution but had faith that the CM would not allow Goa to be converted into a coal hub.
Apart from Naik and Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco the only other Congress MLA who made a notable contribution was Mandrem MLA Dayanand Sopte, who on Day 1 fired the first salvo on Tourism Minister Manohar (Babu) Azgaonkar and followed it up with allegations of corruption in Town and Country Planning Department the next day.
If the Congress was unable to voice its issues, it is because of smart floor management of the government. For every question Speaker Pramod Sawant allows just three MLAs to speak and the Congress MLAs were always found hitting the button late, thus not getting an opportunity to speak.
Also, on any calling attention motion or Zero Hour mention the BJP and alliance partners were quick to hit the button and the Opposition found wanting.
Moreover, as has happened in the past, whenever any minister appeared to be cornered, by the Opposition, the CM quickly stood and answered for him, saving the day for the government.
