Manohar Parrikar’s Mission Salcete may have stopped after his central stint, but the mission has begun again after the 2017 elections. Now, Parrikar has passed on the baton to the young Ministers in his cabinet especially TCP and Agriculture Minister Vijai Sardessai.
Even with the sweeping BJP performances, the BJP in Goa have not been able to emerge as the single largest party in the 2017 elections. Down to 13 from 21 MLA’s in 2012, the BJP in Goa has learnt a lesson in much intense way. While the Congress failed to cobble up a majority, the BJP gathered the free moving MLA’s and also the MGP and GFP to form the government in Goa. The government that initially looked like a stop gap arrangement and the one which may not last for long has completed 100 days in power.
After an exemplary win in 2012, Parrikar was appreciated by everyone, all across the country. Soon he was being seen in Salcete on scooter, on foot, walking into muck, making surprise lunch visits to his colleagues in Salcete. Avertano Furtado, Benjamin Silva and Caitu Silva got all the attention and were frequently visited by Parrikar. But, this time it’s not the same. It looks like Chief Minister Parrikar in his new avatar has decided to work smart instead of hard, and has decentralised his powers to his cabinet colleague Vijai Sardesai.
In the last 100 days of the Parrikar rule in Goa, there are several instances where it is visibly clear that Manohar Parrikar has now decentralised his powers and created parallel power centres, most important one being Minister Vijai Sardesai. Sources in the political circle have suggested that the TCP Minister is of the opinion of having an extended desk of his ministerial office in Margao at Matanhy Saldanha Administrative complex. The ground work of this has already started, with Minister holding big ‘janata darbars’ in Collectorate with many government officials.
There are indicators that there is a clear delegation of power and a big decentralisation of governance into the South and especially in Fatorda. The first and the clearest indicator is the frequent ‘stand of government’ statements made by Vijai Sardesai time and again on all major issues. Vijai recently, on the Sadhvi and the beef issue, went on to say that the stand of Goa Forward Party or the TCP Minister is to be treated as the stand of the government on the issues. This comes when there is no statement from the Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar even after the opposition benches are screaming for one.
Second and the most decisive indicator is the ‘common minimum programme’ which is Vijai and Vijai’s campaign promise all the way, be it IPB, Coconut tree or even the Floriculture facilitation.
The third indicator is the style of functioning. In the past, Parrikar functioned in a radical style, and now all the three youngsters in the cabinet, Rohan, Vijai and Vishwajeet are functioning in the same manner. These three musketeers of the Parrikar-led government have already started aggressive clean up exercises and have also brought their colleagues in the main stream.
As far as Vijai is concerned, he is now in charge of all the pending promises of Mission Salcete and keeps following them up. Vijai has promised to complete and commission the sewage treatment plant of Margao and he has also taken up the issues of fishing community affected by CRZ rules.
All this and more is a clear decentralisation bid of the Parrikar government which has rested its powers in its frontline ‘commander’ Vijai Jaiwant Sardesai.
With the by-election closing in, it is going to be interesting to see who reacts how in the new scheme of things. The control of Vijai over South Goa may also be a hindrance to South Goa MP Narendra Sawaikar from being the natural choice for the 2019 elections as the Goa Forward may beg to differ. The next move of all the politicians ruling Goa is getting clear but perplexed to understand. For now the power centres have shifted and so is the governance in Goa.
Team TNV
