elieve it or not! But working as a coalition government, especially with those leaders whose ‘tuning’ never matched and were once considered as hard-core anti-BJP forces, is not going to be a cake-walk for Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar. The Parrikar-led coalition government has a tough task on its hand as it drafs the much awaited ‘Common Minimum Programme’.
The Common Minimum Programme (CMP) is a document that will outline the minimum objectives of a coalition government. The document has acquired prominence since coalition governments have become the norm of Indian politics and Goa is no an exception to it. ‘Goem, Goemkar, Goenkarponn’ is going to be the tag line of the CMP, the release of which is going to please few and possibly upset many.
There are already some indications of this. The Government, through the Governor’s opening address to State Assembly as well as in its Budget 2017-18, refrained from making any populist announcements or policy decisions. The Government’s plans will be now highlighted in the CMP – the base for coalition formation and functioning in future – which is expected to be released this month.
Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar has already announced that the CMP is being drafted keeping in mind the special position of the State while undertaking the development. The programme is keeping the specialty of Goenkarponn.
With the Goa electorate throwing up a hung assembly, giving no clear verdict to either of the two national parties, the Bharatiya Janata Party (13 MLAs) and Congress (17 MLAs), it is the regional parties like the Goa Forward Party (GFP) formed just a year ago, which fought the BJP and Congress on the sons of the soil issue, and the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP), with three legislators each, who are the one who are going to dictate terms to the new BJP-led government.
While MGP may prefer to lie low on the CMP, considering it was in the ruling with the then BJP government in 2012-16 and a part and parcel of Government’s decision, the GFP’s agenda is something to wait and watch for. In fact the TCP Minister Vijai Sardesai-led party has already set in motion a process to chalk out a CMP as their post-poll alliance condition. These were enacted by Parrikar’s previous government and when he moved to the Centre as defence minister, by Laxmikant Parsekar, who stepped into the CM’s shoes. The withdrawal of these amendments is not going to go well with Parsekar, especially the issues that led to his debacle in the recent poll
The reclassification of coconut palm as tree, amendment to the Investment Promotion Act that led to formation of Investment Promotion Board and ‘No’ to nationalisation of rivers, will be the prime issues on the platter of the Chief Minister, as he tries to please coalition partner GFP, which was up in arms against the then Parsekar government’s decisions. It is quite evident that the GFP and the Independent MLA and Revenue Minister Rohan Khaunte are not going to compromise on any of these three issues, which are at the core of their heart.
“There are many things that are going to be part of CMP. But the first thing is the coconut tree would once again become a tree. It won’t be a grass. This was my post-poll alliance condition. Both Parrikar and Nitin Gadkari (BJP national leader) had assured me on this,” Sardesai said adding the tightening up of rules under Investment Promotion Board and ensuring there is no more destruction of environment, is also going to be a priority.
“You can’t just make a mockery; bring in any and every industry. Or allow polluting industry in the garb of investment (and employment). Employment for whom? Eighty per cent jobs for locals in the private sector should somehow be implemented,” the Minister explained.
He said that there are many more priorities of the GFP. “We will pitch for 100 per cent reservation for sons of the soil in the government sector; the only exception will be when there is specialisation involved. We have not discussed in detail, but we have broad-based assurances from Parrikar and Nitin Gadkari over many of the issues close to our hearts,” he said.
Yet another issue that may see no compromise from the coalition Minister Rohan Khaunte is the offshore casino vessels in River Mandovi. Khaunte, who had led an aggressive campaign on and off the Floor of the House, has apparently informed the Chief Minister that the latest extension of three months granted to off shore casinos to shift will be the last.
“Shifting of off shore casinos from River Mandovi is one of the priorities that will be highlighted in the CMP. There won’t be any compromise on it,” Khaunte said.
While issues like medium of instruction (MoI), electronic city at Tuvem, Mopa Greenfield airport, IT Park at Chimbel, Special Status to Goa are some of the issues which may not find place in the CMP, considering that the coalition partners never had any resentment on these topics.
