Is the pickle getting rancid?

Two big stories hit the headlines in the last fortnight. The Modi-Tharoor-Gabriella-Pushkar fiasco at the national level, and, back home in Goa, the CBI case against Goa's Mr Clean - Manohar Parrikar - over IFFI 2004.

Not much in common in the two gentlemen involved in these cases.

For instance, the public perception about the ex-IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi, is nowhere even close to the huge 'Mr Clean' image of our own 'Bhai' has he is affectionately called by friends and BJP cadres. Yet the two face the same charge - alleged malfeasance.

Strangely however, the defence -- the 'I have done nothing wrong' types - proferred by the two have striking similarities. Also, another strategy adopted by Parrikar - 'If I am guilty, so are all the other members of the IFFI Core Committee' - finds an echo in what Modi's doing, of seeking to implicate all the members of the IPL Governing Council.

But there sure is a common lesson for the Modis, Parrikars, et al - People in glass houses should not throw stones.

Some eight years ago, Parrikar was on the other side of the fence and at the helm, hitting straight drives, square-cuts and hook-shots that saw two top Congress politicians -- Mauvin Godinho and Somnath Zuwarkar - land in jail and another, Dayanand Narvekar, in hospital to escape jail.

'Let them face the law' was his oft-repeated justification for his chosen men in the Goa Police hounding these political foes of his. Now, suddenly, he finds himself facing the law, and ironically, on a complaint filed by the hounded - Mauvin Godinho. And, he is complaining!

'Political parties in power should not use agencies to unleash political vendettas' was his refrain after the two-hour grilling at the CBI. Is the pickle getting rancid?

To grant it to Parrikar, however, he still retains this huge 'Mr Clean' perception among the public. Almost every person, I've spoken to after his two-hour interrogation by the CBI hit the headlines, vociferously vouched that he is clean, and will come out clean in the 'IFFI-in-a-jiffy' case.

The war within

The young man of Goa's politics, Health Minister Vishwajeet Rane, seems to be in a tearing hurry. Sources in his camp say G-7 is a thing of the past. The Sattari scion now has his eyes set on the 2012 general election and chosen men in the five Bicholim-Sattari constituencies who he wants as MLAs after those polls. And, BJP's Bicholim legislator, Rajesh Patnekar, is in his plans, never mind that umpteen attempts to get Patnekar to join the Congress in the recent past have failed.

But what lends credence to the Patnekar story is that Rane Jr has given Naresh Sawal, until recently his blue-eyed boy in Bicholim, a freezing shoulder. He's been given a telling off, but Sawal is not one to give up so easily. Apparently, Sawal has clinged on to another Congress bigwig - Ramakant Khalap - and the two were recently seen in each other's company on the dais at a public function in Mencurem-Bicholim.

Not to be outdone, Rane Jr has begun dabbling in Khalap's Pernem - the seat carved out from the erstwhile Mandrem and Pernem seats in the last delimitation. He has vowed to field Sangeeta Parab and is often seen in Pernem's jurisdiction in the lady's company. The war seems to be out there in the open.

In several other parts of Goa, the Congress faces such dilemmas. Churchill v/s Luizinho v/s Sardinha in Salcete. In Canacona, it's gonna be Isidore Fernandes v/s Sanjay Bandekar for the lone seat. And, many more such battles are yet to break out in the open.

As usual, the Congress needs no enemy. The Congress itself suffices, as the party's own matriarch - Sonia Gandhi - so often points out.

Taste of their own medicine

One hot and humid afternoon last week, there was an incident where money was extorted, inside the Calangute police station. And for once, it was the cop that had to shell out.

A 'eunuch' held a police sub-inspector hostage for a couple of minutes. He/she demanded that the PSI give money. Finally, the PSI picked out a Rs 50 note and was reluctantly handing it over to the enuch. But he/she refused to take it and demanded a minimum of Rs 200.

Interestingly, it all sounded as if this was a familiar drama at the police station. Even as the PSI struggled to wriggle out from the eunuch's grip, the other cops and staff remained unpeturbed, busy with their regular chores. The PSI's repeated requests to come again the next time or try out other police stations failed to drive the visitor away.

Finally, the PSI's claim that he was broke, it being the end of the month, worked. It prompted some change of heart, and the eunuch left with the Rs 50 note, but promised to come back when the money got to be 'real big'. Taste of their own medicine?

Politics takes its course, law only follows it!

If you hear any top gun in government say 'law will take its own course' do not believe him. In fact, believe exactly the opposite.

Take the case of the Diwali eve blast at Margao last year. Our Home Minister, Ravi Naik was quick on the take to say the investigations will be speedy, and that all would be brought to book with no one spared. Understandably, this top gun had enough reason to go hammer and tongs on the blast investigations. For, Sanatan Saunstha, the Hindu right-wing organisation linked to the blast also had links to his cabinet colleague - Sudin Dhavlikar - who had politically tormented him since 2002, in Ponda.

But Ravi did not have his way, and, as is the case with every major police investigation, it's politics rather than law that took its course!

Apparently Diggubab, despite being a few metres away from death on that fateful Narkasur day, wasn't as enthusiastic as Ravi was as the course the latter hoped to take threatened to rock his boat. So, he rapped Ravi on his nuckles, and the Special Investigation Team (SIT) kept their work pinned around the six men including the two who died in the blast.

Now suddenly, more than six months after the blast, the National Investigative Agency, set up after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks which took over the Margao blast probe, has injected new vigour into the investigations.

If Dhavlikar's case isn't enough to convince that its politics that takes precedence over the course of law, then ask another minister -- Babush Monserrate.

Upset with the way the cops manhandled him and his family members in the aftermath of the February 19, 2008 attack on the Panjim Police Station, the Taleigao strongman himself walked up to Diggubab and demanded a CBI inquiry as part of a deal which also saw him make an entry into the cabinet at Dayanand Narvekar's expense. Now, that agency's probe has boomeranged and the Monserrates and gang have to face trial in Court!

Won't be surprised if the weighty lid shut by the Crime Branch on the messy Varca Casino case suddenly comes off and yet another Minister -- Francisco (Mickky) Pacheco -- is made to face the law.

A fallout of the goofed up political expedition by the G-7? Seems like it. After all, Diggubab isn't all that simple as he seems!

Caught in a time warp

The Goa Police department seems caught in a time warp. It released a telephone directory this year but had names of peers in the media who have long quit their positions.

For instance, it has Suresh Walve as editor of Marathi daily Navprabha, a position he quit two years ago. Walve is the 'media advisor' to Chief Minister Digambar Kamat for more than a year now. Another journalist, Raju Nayak, finds himself still with the Indian Express according to the Police Directory. Now, Raju again quit the Indian Express more than two years ago. He then had a stint with the Times of India and is currently the editor of Marathi daily Lokmat. There are a number of other entries in the directory that are outdated by years. God save us if the intelligence gathered by the men-in-uniform is as stale as the info in its 2010 telephone directory!

Cash unsafe at Police HQ?

Policemen are henceforth going to get their pay packets through bank accounts.

All this while, like the staff in many other government departments, the men-in-uniform too got paid in cash packed in envelopes. Now, the department will pay the men on its roster through the bank for which it has tied up with the banking monolith -- State Bank of India. A long overdue step, I thought, but not for the reasons the top brass in the force and those in government decided in favour of routing the cops' salaries through the bank: So much cash on pay day is unsafe at the Police headquarters!

Iron ore: Gimme (m)ore

So, it is all about ore!

The political rumblings in the state have got more to do with iron ore and individual cravings of the politicos rather than any issue of government and governance. Politicos, who have for decades been funded by this so called 'backbone' of the Goan economy, have become enterprising enough to themselves jump into the mining business, legal or otherwise.

And, it's this one-upmanship race to corner the 'most for myself' of the mining pie that's given shape to this obscene 'dance of democracy' currently witnessed in Goa, Mumbai and Delhi. 'G-7 in Mumbai', 'G-7 in Delhi' and 'G-7 back in Goa empty handed' are some of the classical dance steps performed in the last few weeks by these politicos.

The G17, meanwhile, prefers the tango. So, Chief Minister Digambar Kamat and GPCC chief Subhash Shirodkar tango all the way to Mumbai and return back. Last week they did the same: Tango all the way to New Delhi!

Yet, there are no results. The same rotten governance and another week of speculative political reportage in the media for Goa even as the politicos meanwhile keep saying 'Gimme (m)ore'.

Sahoo’s back and haunting!

There's a bitter war on in the NRI Commission.

Sources have told us that the Secretary for the Commission, DC Sahoo has shot off a note to some heads of departments that curtails, rather questions, the 'financial powers' of the NRI Commissioner Eduardo Faleiro.

We are not sure what the provocation for it was, but Sahoo's missive for sure sent a fuming Faleiro dashing to CM Digambar Kamat to lodge a strong protest. Faleiro has demanded that Sahoo be releived and the NRI portfolio be entrusted to another bureaucrat, the source told us.

But Kamat is at his wits end how to oblige the veteran from Raia. We would suggest, he consults his former mentor Manohar Parrikar on this one. For, the last time Sahoo was unwanted, Parrikar had come up with a gem -- got rid of him not with the stick, but rather with a carrot!

In the early part of this decade, when Parrikar was a mere MLA, Sahoo as Managing Director of the Goa Industrial Development Corporation was entangled in a serious corruption case. Parrikar himself spoke of the case in the Goa Legislative Assembly but not much came of it as there was no formal complaint filed before any statutory authority. Months later, when Parrikar himself became Goa's 'Super CM' Sahoo got a huge 'promotion'. He got inducted into the Indian Administrative Services (IAS) cadre. And, when Parrikar was pushed to corner in the House by the Opposition's taunts on his U-turn on Sahoo, he came up with this gem: "It's an innovative management technique. Even Corporates follow it now-a-days. When you want to get rid of a top honcho, kick him upstairs!"

But it's Sahoo who's had the last laugh making a grand comeback to the Goa administration. This time however its not Parrikar that he's haunting, but CM Diggu's cabinet-ranked NRI Commissioner!

Ready-kar

Last week this column threw light on a certain 'Northen Paradise' on government property where rave is the name of the game. Turns out that this paradise sent the Sub Divisional Magistrate of Bardez raving after a few phone calls made by the Paradise's owners no sooner DGP Bhim Sain Bassi's surprise tour of North Goa ended up with the cops swooping down on the rocking night spot.

The phone calls made the Bardez' SDM live his name. DM Redkar 'readily' issued an 'order' (sic) directing the Anjuna Police Inspector, Manjunath Desai, to refrain from visiting the 'Paradise' for sound control purposes because, it being an indoor venue, it does not require permissions or policing for noise pollution violations.

Interestingly, 'Ready-kar's' order reached the 'Paradise' even quicker than it reached PI Manjunath at the Anjuna police station. It was the 'Paradise' that served the order on the PI rather than the SDM's office.

The order meanwhile sent the police establishment in a tizzy. But better sense finally prevailed and North Goa District Magistrate Mir Vardhan intervened to force the SDM withdraw the controversial order.

Meanwhile, GTDC which has only been threatening to act but never acted in the last almost one decade, has again gone cold on evicting the occupant of the 'Paradise'. Some 35-odd lakh of rupees is due in lease rents from the 'Paradise' which has paid the GTDC nothing over these 10 years. Cheers!

The honchos at the Provedoria, which runs the state lottery have got their Hindu Calendar all wrong. The Hindu New year began on March 16 but not for the Provedoria it seems. The institution which currently runs a pale shadow of the 'state lottery' has begun the first of a series of "GUDIPADWA" bumper lottery only this week and the first draw will be held tomorrow (April 7, 2007)!