Without Manohar Parrikar, BJP Stares at Bleak Future in Goa

Panaji: As the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) grapples with the leadership crisis in Goa, it should be asking itself if its total and complete reliance on Manohar Parrikar was after all good for the future of the party in this state. And right now, the BJP’s prospects minus its only recognisable face do seem rather bleak. More than a week after Parrikar was moved to the All India Institute of Medical Science, Delhi, for reasons of failing health – the Goa chief minister has been under treatment for pancreatic cancer – the saffron party has been unable to come up with a face agreeable to the allies, whose combined numbers – nine MLAs – make for nearly half the coalition government’s strength in the state legislative assembly.

The current impasse is telling on the state’s governance, or rather the lack thereof. More so, as ministers Govind Gaude and Rohan Khaunte emphasised to The Wire, Parrikar currently handles 48 portfolios (some of them have gone back to the chief minister from two other BJP ministers who have also been hospitalised for months). If this wasn’t bad enough for the functioning of the government, the allies too are growing impatient with the BJP for going incommunicado. “How long are we supposed to wait? The BJP has not got back to us on a choice of leader or alternate arrangement. The administration has collapsed. How can we carry on like this with Parrikar being consulted on every little step,” Guade said, adding, “It is high time to think of the people.”

Among the few options before a government so dependent on the support of allies to claw on to power is to carry on with Parrikar and dish out a few portfolios to keep the partners in good humour. “There will be no leadership change, Parrikar will continue,” BJP MP Narendra Sawaikar told The Wire on Saturday. The “modalities” of government-running would be worked out at a meeting between Amit Shah and the Goa chief minister, he said. This, obviously, is the best stop-gap arrangement the BJP can come up with for now.

Parrikar’s dominance over BJP affairs in Goa, his brisk moves to nix any challengers such as Union AYUSH minister Shripad Naik and the concentration of all decision-making in his hands amplified the “strong leader” cult. But it also prevented the rise of a second-rung leadership in the party. Parrikar’s dictate extended to the RSS in Goa as well, where the organisation suffered its first-ever split – something unheard of in the saffron body reputed for its hardline discipline – when its Goa mentor Subhash Velingkar was sacked over differences with the Goa chief minister. Scathingly critical of his one-time protégé in the Sangh, Velingkar said recently that the BJP didn’t have a second leader to fall back on because “it didn’t encourage others on purpose”.

How this would impact the party’s future in Goa is an interesting question to consider.

Much reviled for its profusion of “grandfather leaders” in Goa and the perennial inner-party factionalism, the Congress on the other hand seems to have picked up a few lessons after its stinging defeat in 2012. The Goa Pradesh Congress Committee is currently headed by its former Youth Congress leader Girish Chodankar and the legislature party leadership has been entrusted to one of its youngest MLAs, Chandrakant Kavlekar.

The Congress on Friday moved a no-confidence motion against Goa speaker Pramod Sawant. It also asked that Governor Mridula Sinha convene a special session of the state assembly to allow the party to prove its majority. But as long as Sinha – she was in the BJP national executive and headed the party’s mahila morcha till her posting to Goa – stands as the gatekeeper of BJP’s interests, as she did after the saffron party lost last year’s election here, not much can come of these political moves.

All India Congress Committee secretary A. Chella Kumar said the current government in Goa was hurtling to a “natural death” propelled by the uncertainty over leadership and discontent within its cabinet. The coalition had been formed by parties who had “compromised on their political ideology and back-stabbed their voters,” he added. Both Goa Forward Party (GFP) and Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) who are part of the Parrikar government had campaigned against the BJP in last year’s election. The GFP in particular, which is led by former Congressman Vijai Sardesai, will face a crucial test of survival from a mid-term election after its tie-up with the BJP. The prospect of one is what’s also keeping the allies from pulling the plug on the BJP.

“If they believe the government is not functioning, why are those jokers not withdrawing support to us?” was BJP MLA Nilesh Cabral’s combative take on criticism from the allies. But minus Parrikar and a charismatic face to carry the day, an early election just to keep the Congress from forming a government in Goa may not bring a happy result for the BJP either. Six of its former ministers, among them the then chief minister Laxmikanth Parsekar, were roundly trounced in last year’s poll for their poor performance. None of them would be considered “leadership” material today.

Devika Sequeira is a freelance journalist based in Goa.

The Wire is now on WhatsApp. Follow our channel for sharp analysis and opinions on the latest developments.