MALL de GOA: The political scenario in Goa on July 10, was no different from a scene at the mall where shopping sprees’ and sales happen in air-conditioned comfort. All Herald had to do was meet the fortune teller sitting in the mall who had the inside and ringside view of the trade and commerce that was going on in the name of politics.
According to his reports, the Goa Congress stood completely exposed with its integrity stripped to the bone. The architects of the exercise as officially confirmed by the AICC desk in charge of Goa Dinesh Gundu Rao, were Michael Lobo and Digambar Kamat. Rao said Lobo “was trying to save his own skin while Kamat was “hatching a conspiracy”.
However, the fortune teller had more information. Negotiations have been going on also about who the BJP will drop to make way for those who are defecting now; and even MLAs who said they will not go were very clear that their portfolio had to be cleared before they would sit on the table. He said that the ones who are at the top of the Assembly line waiting to resign or wait till the numbers add up to merge are Michael and Delilah Lobo, Digambar Kamat, Cumbarjua MLA Rajesh Phaldessai and Saligao MLA Kedar Naik.
One senior MLA told Herald, “Nothing is happening tonight as the numbers don’t add up”. The number for the record is 8. The defecting group needs to have a strength of 8 out of 11 MLAs to ensure that they can circumvent the anti-defection law when the defecting MLAs are two-thirds the strength of the legislative party. He also confirmed that the move is at a “very advanced stage”. “After all you are dealing with the BJP”, he said. But according to the fortune-teller, this is not about them alone. Of the 11 MLAs, there are 5 who have maintained that they are with the Congress and not a party to the break in the legislative wing- Sankalp Amonkar, Yuri Alemao, Carlos Ferreira, Rudolf Fernandes and Altone D’Costa.
But a majority from this group have had back-channel discussions of some sort about what is in it for them with BJP emissaries, two of them insisting on ministerial berths, one of them even went as far as to say.
Altone D’Costa of Quepem however feels he will have a lot to lose by quitting the Congress since his BJP rival in the area Babu Kavlekar will get the party ticket, and his career may suffer.
However even MLAs like Aleixo Sequeira and Yuri Alemao, irrespective of their public posturing are fully open to the idea depending on some factors working in their favour.
At the same time, the Congress MLAs who are pushing for this were working overtime to get their colleagues along to achieve the magic figure of 8. One new MLA said, “I’m getting more calls to defect from my own party MLAs than the BJP, I had to switch off my phone.”
However, the fortune teller in the political mall, mentioned another figure- ‘Rs 40 crore each’ but did not elaborate on what that meant.
Michael and Delilah Lobo, Digambar Kamat, Rajesh Phaldessai, and Kedar Naik are the ones who stayed away from the last-ditch attempt made by Dinesh Gundu Rao to keep the flock together by bringing them for a joint press conference. But they refused to take part and went to the Chief Minister’s residence.
While CM Sawant official said that he is unaware of any moves by the Congress Herald has reliably learnt that the BJP top brass wants a clear shift of eight MLAs rather than a few MLAs resigning and contesting by-elections.
The fortune-teller had a view on this “That figure is not difficult to get. (The figure of 8 MLAs) But it is taking time because the BJP too needs to prepare its own house to accommodate the defectors. And if some of their own MLAs have to be dropped to give cabinet berths to Congress defectors, it’s not a decision that can be taken easily.
