It was a telling picture, Digambar Kamat, Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco and Vijai Sardesai raising their hands, victory signs flashing at the formation of yet another out of syllabus alliance, called the Margao Civic Alliance. Behind their masks, their minds were also working overtime. Sardesai was optimistic. After all, he has been pushing for a united front against the BJP, as well as confronting barbs and potent reminders, by people like Churchill Alemao that it was he who had helped formed the BJP government in Goa in 2017.
Sardesai is clearly trying to obliterate that period in the hope that the belligerence with which he is taking on the BJP now would see him through. But he needs allies and the Congress is a natural one. Unfortunately, all Congressmen are not.
Therefore one needs to look at the Margao Civic Alliance as regional political coming together of politicians looking to firm their turfs. To that end, this might work. And then be leveraged by the architects of the alliance. However, the path is far from smooth and in a web of inherent contradictions. While Digambar Kamat and to an extent a potentially reluctant Reginaldo Lourenco are committed to the coming together of non-BJP forces at least for the civic elections, the Congress party has too many players with independent interests to allow this to happen.
Social organisations like EK Pal Ekcharachem have also supported an opposition alliance in Margao on the grounds that an opposition alliance is needed to speak out against draconian projects pushed through by the BJP at the state and the centre calling it a “commendable beginning”.
Speaking to Herald Digambar Kamat said “This was tried out in 2015 very successfully and we have listened to the wishes of the people and do the same in 2017”. The people want this as the need of the hour” Asked if this formula would be repeated in the forthcoming Assembly elections, scheduled for 2022, with a possibility of them getting advanced, the former Chief Minister remarked “This is a decision the party has to take. I’m not authorised to take that decision. I’m sure the party will take that call at the appropriate time.”
The Alliance has of course found voices of support. For instance composer, singer and Congressman Sidhanath Buyao who had earlier announced that he would contest the Margao Municipal Council elections, backed out to support the Margao Civic Alliance supported by the Congress and the Goa Forward Party. He said “Digambar Kamat is a senior leader and he must have given a lot of thought to form this alliance and therefore I wholeheartedly support his move,”
He was also instrumental in getting 11 candidates who were contesting against the alliance to withdraw in favour of the alliance and specifically Fatorda Forward, backed by the Goa Forward Party which will spearhead the alliance in the wards of the Fatorda constituency under the nomenclature of “Team Goa”.
Interestingly the Curtorim MLA Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco, while present on the dais, justified his support to Digambar Kamat “Digambar Kamat is the leader of the opposition and the CLP leader. When he asked me to be part of the alliance I went ahead, lest I be accused of anti-party activity.”
It’s clear that the electoral history of the Margao civic polls shows that opposition unity has worked in Margao and may well do so again this time around. But the different strings and pulls and leadership differences within the Congress has prevented any such unity from getting cemented with the rest of the opposition – mainly the Goa Forward. For instance, the South Goa MP and former Chief Minister Francisco Sardinha was clear, “I agree that the BJP has to be defeated. The BJP came to power not through the window but through the ventilator and opposition parties have the right to throw the BJP out. But the Congress is a strong national party and can do it by itself. I’m a Congressman and will support anyone from the Congress”.
Asked specifically about the Margao Civic alliance, he chose to differ with Digambar Kamat on his move without elaborating. According to local Congress sources, Sardinha apparently called Reginaldo Lourenco, his party bête noire and asked why he had joined the Alliance asking “How many Congress people are there in the Alliance?”.
Asked whether he had blessed the Fatorda Block Congress panel which is contesting against the Margao Civic Alliance, Sardinha said “Some Congressmen came to me. (Before the Margao Civic Alliance was formally announced). I knew just one of them. All I asked was why did they start campaigning so late. And I said that I will always give my best wishes to any Congress person standing”
Joint Venture politics by some Congress groups aimed to derail any opposition front
However, unknown to senior leaders like Sardinha, there are different “games” being played.
Moreover, at the local level, there are instances of a joint venture partnership between those aligned to the Congress and those with the BJP. Here are some instances. A prospective candidate from one of the wards and a relative of a BJP candidate from another ward was called by the local BJP leadership to confirm her ticket. She was called to the office but the ticket was ultimately refused for an interesting reason. Her close friend and companion happens to be close to the Goa Forward Party. During a subsequent visit to the BJP office, she found a local Congress leader on the ground floor of the office who offered her a ticket and funds. So was there information flowing between the BJP and Congress at that level?
Then in ward number 6 the Congress has fielded one Yogesh Nagvenkar who belongs to a right-wing outfit Parshuram Sena. Nagvenkar in turn was blessed and wished by Subhash Velingkar the RSS ideologue who then formed the Goa Suraksha Manch.
Nagvenkar calls himself the ‘Working President of the Block Congress of Fatorda”. Interestingly one of his tweets on March 30, 2020, during the pandemic read “A big thank you to the ex MLA of Fatorda Damodar Naik (BJP) for his grocery delivery support for the residents of Gogol, Fatorda in the time of Covid crisis, Dev bore Koru Damu. Damu Pavlo, Dambab Pavlo”.
The Congress also needs to figure if it is seriously contesting, or acting as a spoiler to help the BJP. Otherwise what explains the party fielding just 5 candidates out of 12 wards in Fatorda and then addressing a press conference attacking their own leader of the Opposition Digambar Kamat and Curtorim MLA for forming a united alliance? The party spokesman Trajan D’Mello, the jumping jack of Goan politics who was with the Goa Forward in his immediate past avatar, launched a full-throated attack on his own party men, shockingly saying “Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco will not contest on a Congress ticket. He has shown no interest in Curtorim and Digambar Kamat will join the BJP during the next elections. He was supposed to go when the 10 MLAs defected actually”. This is the official Congress spokesman speaking about two of his party MLAs including the Leader of the opposition.
The absolute mess that the Congress party is in with as many voices as leaders makes it imperative that the Congress needs unity within itself first.
GFP President Vijay Sardesai said ‘Opposition unity is the need of the hour and Margao Civic alliance has shown the way. I consider the Municipal Elections as a referendum on my performance. If I have done development people will vote for my panel”
The political waters of Margao are still muddied with confusion in the Congress party even as two of its elected MLAs are making an attempt at putting up a united front against the BJP, in a very bitter battlefield. Here civic issues may be discussed but it is a big political election which will set the stage for opposition politics with the politics of betrayal and backstabbing all part of the script.
