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Willy has won the battle, not the war

Winning the vote of confidence after a prolonged wait of one and a half months does not mean that Goa Chief Minister Dr Wilfred de Souza's coalition government is safe for the time-being. He has just won the legal battle, but the political battle whether he would survive for the next 15 months, till the assembly elections, is still a question.

The problems are not because three different groups belonging to three diverse ideologies have come together. The grave has been dug by Dr Willy himself, not bothering much about its serious political consequences, in his revengeful style.

The threat, obviously, is from within the 24-memebr coalition he is heading, including his 10-member Goa Rajiv Congress. It began much before he won the confidence vote and even before the court battles over disqualifications had begun.

The BJP, which changed its earlier stand of participating in the government, is already becoming tough with de Souza, whom it had always condemned as a Catholic leader. On the other hand is Irrigation Minister Dayanand Narvekar, his rival in the Congress earlier but who has aligned with him to take the number two position in his cabinet. He has already begun planing the next toppling games.

The cold war between the two seasoned politicians has begun over non-allocation of portfolios of PWD and home, which Narvekar was demanding. Dr Willy played it skilfully by stripping him of even his earlier ministry of urban development, but allotting it to two close aides of Narvekar, who actually persuaded them to join hands with his rival.

As a result, Narvekar is today left alone, like a wounded tiger. "What can one man do," laughs out an over-confident Dr Willy, who is undoubtedly having an upper hand today.

But the coalition partners are worried that the honeymoon may not last long if some of the ministers slowly start shifting their loyalties to the troublemaker Narvekar. The shrewd politician seems to be waiting patiently for them to get frustrated over de Souza's arrogant behaviour, which he is known for.

The wounded tiger appears more busy confabulating with his former colleagues in the Congress rather than planning (the new portfolio he is handling) for the Willy government. In fact his plan to head back to the Congress -- before seeking the confidence vote -- failed, since none of his close aides from the GRC supported the move.

"Our survival actually depends on Narvekar," admits one BJP strategist. But it is also the unreliable BJP which is holding a sword over Dr Willy's new experiment. Much before the confidence vote was sought, the party, supporting from outside, demanded that Pandurang Bhatale, de Souza's close aide, be stripped of the co-operation portfolio.

In a behaviour reminding one of the AIADMK's Jayalalitha, the BJP has now announced not to sit quiet till the demand is met. The prolonged battle seems imminent since de Souza has bluntly refused to oblige his BJP partners, flaying the allegations made against Bhatale: the anti-coalition role he played during the Goa State Co-operative Bank elections held last week.

The BJP strategists also admit in private that the plan to participate in the government was dropped last minute, when they realised that files of all the ministries are routed through the chief minister's office.

It was a mere excuse to save their face publicly that they do not want to become part of the jumbo cabinet, which also conveniently suited their public interest of gaining political mileage among the educated Goan voters.

Congress leader R L Bhatia, who was in Goa a fortnight ago to resolve the leadership squabble among the Congressmen, seized the opportunity to invite the breakaway group back into the party fold. 'I hope they realise the BJP's gameplan to withdraw support and go for polls by November," he said, after reportedly holding secret confabulations with Narvekar.

But de Souza dismisses any such possibility. "The new combination would have long-term implications. Goa's polity is changing and old alignments are being given up," he claims, hinting at ending the traditional Hindu-Catholic politics that has dominated the tourist state for nearly four decades, since its liberation in 1961.

His plan is to merge the GRC and the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party, which is participating in the government, to form a new regional party, on the eve of the next assembly elections. But whether the BJP would agree with the move, however, is still a question.

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