Goa’s biggest power fest, the 2012 assembly elections are less than two months away. As part of our pre-poll warm up, we will look at some broad themes which will be the pulse of the elections. We begin with “Mergers and Acquisitions”, a commercial term which fits well in Goa. This series will focus on the different alliances taking shape.
BINDIYA CHARI
bindiya@herald-goa-com
PANJIM: What is common between Rock & Roll music the world over and the MGP in Goa? They both thrived and ruled from the early sixties to the late seventies, drawing in its wake a swathe of supporters and a cult following that took them to their pinnacle.
The parallel though stops. Rock & Roll is not dead, it’s just on the backburner. The same cannot be said of the MGP, a party which ruled Goa from 1963 to 1979, remained significant in the eighties (it was almost at par with the Congress in the 1990 elections), before the fire went off. The ‘Lion’, the party symbol and the motif of its reign as the lord of the parties gave way till it finally became a party of a couple of individuals. Today, the MGP has been reduced to the Dhavlikar party, looking for resurrection and resurgence.
There is hope for both, but in unison with the BJP. This could actually turn out to be the most interesting alliance shaping up, though the usual ones — Congress-NCP, get more attention.
While we have reported this before, some things are official now. MGP has officially said an alliance with the Congress is “ruled out”. Secondly, Manohar Parrikar has actually said that it is a “feel good factor”.
They are not made for each other but today the circumstances are such that only if they stick together, they can hope of coming to power. What makes their alliance compelling? For the MGP, it’s a question of survival.
It has to attain 85,000 votes to retain its symbol of Lion. For the BJP, it’s critical to attain power.
The marriage is far from being sealed. Lavu Mamlatdar, MGP General Secretary speaking to Herald, said “We want thirteen seats. The BJP is offering just three seats which is not acceptable to us”, indicating that alliance talks have fizzled out. The BJP has agreed to part with three seats — Madkaim, Priol and Ponda.
The BJP is, however, upbeat about this alliance and maintained that talks are still on and are hopeful of positive results.
The Opposition leader Manohar Parrikar said, “there is a feel-good factor about an alliance with the MGP. We feel that this alliance will help get us full majority. The talks are indeed going on and will boil down to the number of seats that the MGP wants”.
Asked if he agrees that MGP still has a vote bank in some pockets of the North he said, “Goa is such a small State you don’t need a vote bank to change the fortunes in a seat. Even 300 votes does it. We feel that the combined strength of both parties will work”.
However, there are skeptics within the MGP who feel that the MGP lost its appeal as there was no effort to build the party after enjoying power for seventeen years.
“Instead of ‘Lion’, people especially, youth preferred to go with blooming ‘Lotus’. They were attracted to BJP’s systematic way of highlighting public issues while MGP grew lethargic”, said a senior MGP leader who has seen MGP eroding election by election.
