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Congress heading for setback in Goa assembly polls

The Congress, which has ruled the tourist state for almost two decades now, finds itself tumbling like a house of cards.

The split engineered by Chief Minister Dr Wilfred de Souza in the Congress government of Pratapsing Rane has come as a major blow to the party bosses. People of the state have surprisingly supported de Souza's Goa Rajiv Congress, the group that is heading the new coalition government along with the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party.

A major jolt to the Congress was the merger of the state Youth Congress as well as the National Students Union of India into the Goa Rajiv Congress within a week of the formation of the new government.

While the block committees represented by MLAs of the breakaway group shifting to the new dispensation was looked upon as a natural consequence of the split, the brunt of the crossover was borne by Goa PCC chief Shantaram Naik: his Cuncolim block also merged into the GRC.

Several municipal and panchayat councils are also either shifting loyalties or are being toppled overnight. It included the Colva panchayat, members of which toppled the sarpanch loyal to Churchill Alemao, the newly admitted Congress leader.

It would be tough for the Congress to face the assembly elections, which are hardly 16 months away, if the shift-overs continue. "We will win 27 out of the 40 seats even after facing these cracks," claimed the Goa PCC chief who says he is waiting for the people to get fed up with the infighting within the combination and come back to the party fold.

But the new ruling combination, if survives till then, could sweep the polls since the Congress has always ruled the state by dividing these groups. The coalition seems to have planned a long-term strategy, keeping its eyes on the next assembly elections.

de Souza's loyalists, however, are playing safe, stating that they still hold Rajiv and Sonia Gandhi in high regard. "The present situation has arisen because the central leaders were totally misguided by former chief minister Pratapsing Rane", alleges Vijay Sardesai, who was heading the Youth Congress till its merger with the GRC.

Though Rane claims the dissidents never complained to him about any problem, de Souza has directly blamed Goa observer Madhavrao Scindia for misguiding the high command, solely because he wanted to save Rane, who is his relative.

The only hope for the Congress today is the Catholic-dominated Salcete taluka, its bastion for two decades, which is not represented in the de Souza government. However, anti-Congress sentiment among the Catholics in the taluka is being exploited by the United Goans Democratic Party, which Alemao left but is today blessed by the chief minister himself.

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