Politics: More is not always ‘the merrier’

An eventful week in Goa indeed was the one that just went by, what with first, the strongman of Taleigao, Babush Monserrate joining the Congress. And, almost as if he was waiting to beat Babush to the post, the Prince of Sattari Vishwajeet Rane followed suit for which he had to voluntarily give up his membership of the legislative assembly but not its perks -- ministership.

Many in the media have interpreted this buttressing of numbers of the Congress as a boost for the stability of the Digambar Kamat-led government. One analysis said it is a move to give Goa a single party rule of the Congress and very soon, the Dhavlikar Brothers will be forced to do the same. Another analysis termed it Digubab's 'masterstroke'. Not one has given the other possibility - the developments triggering infighting, and consequently, instability - a chance.

But I do. And coincidentally, in today's edition of GT in the leader on the Edit page, the veteran Mario Cabral e Sa, shares my view.

In politics more is not always merrier. More so in the case of Goa, where on umpteen occasions in the past CMs have had to bite the dust soon after they engineered defections to buttress their strengths. It happened to Pratapsing Rane in the 1990s when a couple of months after he brought in Antonio Gauncar into the Congress fold Dr Willie, Narvekar and Shirodkar ganged up to dethrone him.

Ditto happened to Luizinho Faleiro in 1999-2000, who as CM then went on a party-eliminating spree. He first brought in Jose Philip and Suresh Parulekar from the UGDP, and followed it up with Ramakant Khalap and Prakash Velip from the MGP. The result? Sardinha, Narvekar, Shirodkar, Aleixo Sequeira and gang bolted to unleash a fall from which the once invincible Navelcar is yet to recover.

Parrikar too learnt this lesson the hard way. Facing an assault from Babush Monserrate, he instantly admitted into the BJP the now on-the-run Mickky who in less than 24 hours joined the five, including Digubab, that ended Parrikar's heady days in power, in early 2005.

So my hunch is, strength in numbers isn't going to be strength in the CM's seat for my friend Digubab. He is bound to be troubled by the demands of a growing number of mouths he has to feed in the Congress stable and you can count on the latest entrants to lead the charge, sooner rather than later. The only trumpcard is the insurmountable power of the High Command as long as the party rules Delhi, and Digubab will last only as long as Madam wants him to.

Why ‘bhakkam pedha’?

An ashen-expressioned chief minister Digambar Kamat and a grinning Goa Pradesh Congress Committee chief Subhash Shirodkar provided the media two photo opportunities last week. And, on both occasions, they seemed keen to show the media and the aam aadmi how pedestrian the Congress realy is, by allowing Vishwajeet Rane and Babush Monserrate, who have walked all over the party in the past, back into the party fold.

But, keen observers of politics would have noticed something very interesting during both photo ops. Kamat and Shirodkar welcomed Babush and Vishwajeet with a 'bhakkam pedha'.

Why? Because 'bhakkam pedha' is a sweet made of flour, deep fried and then soaked in sugar syrup. Distinctly unhealthy, distinctly proletariat. It's one of those sweets which none of our high-blood pressure, high-sugar suffering politicians really like to have. It's less classy, more of an aam janta sweetmeat, cheap and in these cost cutting days can still sweeten the mouth without biting the wallet.

So why were Babush and Vishwajeet fed a 'bhakkam pedha' on their re-entry into the Congress? Because according to one Congressman, the party really does not know how to handle these two politically fidgety and volatile caricatures, once they've slip into the ranks. It was tough anyway to handle them when they were on the fringes. So, the Congress organizational bigwigs decided to mount a strategy called ‘Operation Slow-Sweet-Poisoning’ and the bhakkam pedhas were put into action. We have a feeling both Vishwajeet and Babush were tipped off by some members of the Goa Congress, which is traditionally known for its penchant for betrayals. They only nibbled a bit of the bhakkam pedha. Was it sweet enough? We dunno… maybe their blood sugar levels will tell.

Tailpiece

If there's one lesson Diggubab has learnt from the Mickky episode, it is that henceforth he will induct a minister, if and when he has to tweak his team, only after the candidate goes through a libido test.

Can't blame these men. What else can one expect with 39 men and just one member of the fairer sex long past her prime in a House of 40?