Team Herald
PANJIM: The AICC observer for the Goa elections and former Union Home and Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram has unequivocally stated that Congress, if required, will be open to “working together” with parties “resolutely opposed to the BJP” in Goa.
In a long walking conversation in the by-lanes of Fontainhas, Panjim’s Latin Quarter, the former Union Finance Minister emphasised that in the Goa context, “it is the Congress which will have to lead a non-BJP formation. Even a child will accept that,” he elaborated.
With less than a week to go for polling day, the Congress appears to have positioned itself as the principal challenger to the BJP, and the party “resolutely opposed” to the BJP. This phrase was repeated more than once during the conversation to clearly nullify the elephant in the room of the Congress, defections.
Having already underscored the different pledges and oaths taken by Congress candidates not to defect, he “assured,” that Congress MLAs will not defect, but he interestingly agreed with Herald when he said, “Yes but the thief is still there, and we need to guard our house well.”
Coming back to post-poll alliances, Chidambaram interestingly said some (parties) who express their opposition to the BJP also have an understanding with the BJP. “If we require support, we are happy to work with parties resolutely opposed to the BJP, we have had a hint from AAP.” Asked if he met Arvind Kejriwal, he said, “No I haven’t but he publicly did say that he’s ready for a larger non-BJP understanding.” He then added, “We are happy and believing that we will get a large number of seats, good enough to give us a simple majority. If the other (non-BJP) parties are resolute in their opposition to the BJP, then there is no reason why we cannot work together if it becomes necessary.”
On the issue of selecting clean candidates, the AICC observer said that the majority of Congress candidates “did not have any baggage and were fresh faces” and they had managed to stick to the recommendations from their blocks on candidates in 30 out of 37 seats. He admitted that in some seats there was a departure from the practice. “But 30 out of 37 is fine,” he added.
The hallmark of the BJP is incompetent economic management
Switching to economics and the current state of the fiscal health of Goa, the former Union Finance minister and economist said, “The hallmark of BJP is incompetent economic management. In the last 10 years, Goa’s debt has increased many folds. Actually, the State government is borrowing at a higher rate to service loans taken earlier at a lower rate, which is extremely foolish.”
According to him, of all the States and Union Territories of India, Goa in 2020 had the worst Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) growth rate. “The RBI data states that in 2020 Goa’s figure was minus 8 percent. Even Uttar Pradesh did 4 per cent. It’s total economic mismanagement,” he said.
Resource utilisation
“Goa does not know how to tap its resources. There are three sources of revenue for a government – its own resources, share in Central revenue, grants, and aid from the Centre. Goa’s problem is not resource mobilisation. The worst problem is resource allocation. They don’t know how to allocate resources,” the former Union Finance Minister said.
“It’s pretty elementary economics. Either you reduce the numerator or increase the denominator, as long as the debt-GDP ratio keeps coming down and with your sources of revenue you can finance your debt. I am not worried about financing the debt. I think we know how to increase the denominator so that our debt servicing becomes a lesser burden in the future. I don’t think Mr. Sawant either understands or knows how to handle it,” he said.
Infrastructure and fiscal management
“Give us five years. Let’s meet at the same spot after five years and my colleagues will show you how better fiscal management can support infrastructure building. It’s possible. It can be done. There are States with huge infrastructure projects but better fiscal management like in Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.
Stand on freebies
“Freebies are contextual. When your economy is booming and per capita income is rising at a sharp rate, perhaps it is not necessary to give freebies. But, the context today is pandemic, two years of an economic downslide, one year of a national recession, and as far as Goa is concerned the second year of recession. In such circumstances, the poor have to be helped with cash transfers. That is the simplest way of reaching the benefits to the poor. Any other method is prone to leaks,” he said.
Therefore contextually Goa requires two to three years of a certain amount of cash transfer to the poor and that is the only freebie that we have announced, the veteran Congress leader added.
Cutting down corruption
“If you make a programme universal, self-selection and non-discretionary, corruption will come down. For example in the Congress era when Madhavrao Scindia was the Railway Minister, we computerized railway reservations. Corruption came down sharply. There is a way of reducing corruption. I have calculated the cost of the ‘Nyay’ programme for the very poor of Goa. It’s completely manageable within Goa’s budget, in the context of which Goa’s very poor is placed,” he added.
