Political crisis in Goa

The fighting spirit that Congress displayed in the Karnataka Assembly elections in May this year continues to define the grand old party's strategy in states where it is in the striking distance of power. For example, in Goa where it is the single largest party with 16 seats in a house of 40 members, the party has submitted a memorandum to the Governor Mridula Sinha and requested her to invite the party to form the government. Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar has been in and out of the hospital in the past three months owing to pancreatic ailment. Congress alleged that there has been no government or administration in the state as the Chief Minister is out of the state for a considerable period of time. The Governor should not dissolve the house and recommend a fresh election. Rather it should invite Congress to form the government, the Congress leaders said. BJP has only 14 seats but with the support from Goa Forward Party (GFP) and Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP), both of which have three seats each, the party has formed the government. The BJP government also enjoys the support of three independent MLAs and an MLA from Nationalist Congress Party. With Chief Minister down with a serious ailment, the Goa government has been rudderless. Even BJP's allies in the government have expressed dissatisfaction with the government and demanded that BJP should appoint a new Chief Minister for the state. But the top BJP leadership does not seem to be in a hurry and has dispatched a group of BJP leaders to Goa for holding talks with alliance partners. Congress which is the single largest party in the state Legislative Assembly missed forming its government as it could not stitch an alliance with smaller parties in time while BJP managed to do so. It's the lack of fighting spirit shown by Congress in the aftermath of Goa Assembly elections in 2017 that left the party out of power. Now, Congress wants to turn the table against BJP and form its government. On Monday, Goa Governor Mridula Sinha was not present in her office when the Congress delegation went over to the Raj Bhawan and handed over their demand to form the government in the state. The Congress leaders said they would visit the Raj Bhawan on Tuesday and hand over their memorandum to the Governor. Meanwhile, media reports suggest that the top BJP leadership is also worried about non-performance of its other Chief Ministers. Ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha election, BJP is preparing to showcase its achievements but the performance reports of its Chief Ministers have nothing worthwhile to highlight. In choosing its Chief Ministers, BJP leadership had employed certain strategies and selecting a candidate who does not belong to the dominant caste but can gather other smaller castes and communities to create a counter to the dominant caste has been one of the strategies. Haryana Chief Minister is a Punjabi-Khatri while Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das is the first non-tribal CM of the state. Gujarat has a non-Patidar leader while Maharashtra CM is a Brahmin when Maratha and Dalit constitute half of the population in Maharashtra. In Uttar Pradesh too, the party has appointed a leader, Yogi Adityanath, who does not represent any dominant class. Another qualifying factor for BJP chief ministerial candidates is their personal relationship with party president Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Now, the governance in most of the BJP-ruled states is a serious issue. Haryana has witnessed a series of heinous crimes against women while Jharkhand has been in the news for incidents of mob lynching. Gujarat has witnessed unprecedented unrest and agitation by the Patel community who are demanding reservation in jobs and education whereas Marathas are also demanding similar reservation. Dalits have been on a warpath in both the states. The situation is not much different in other BJP-ruled states. The BJP chief ministers together represent a regime of below-average performance and lack of initiatives to address major issues.

In a sharp contrast, the opposition chief ministers Mamata Banerjee, Pinarayi Vijayan, K Chandrasekhar Rao, and Chandrababu Naidu are not only fiercely independent in their decisions but also known for providing effective governance to their respective states. In an election year, it will be interesting to see how BJP rates the performance of its chief ministers and how it fends off criticism that most of them have been ineffective. The case of Goa is a prime example of how governance is a secondary priority in BJP-ruled states. An ailing chief minister can delegate his work to someone who can perform the task and can even ask for a replacement. But that's not happening in Goa even though the chief minister has not able to devote much time to his job in the last three months.