Editor, Goemkarponn
AERIAL VIEW
Talking about the performance of the Opposition, well, the Opposition is in disarray. There seemed to be no Opposition, and it seemed like they had accepted defeat even before the poll bugle was sounded.
There seems to be no Opposition unity between the Congress, Revolutionary Goans, Goa Forward and Aam Aadmi Party, who seem to be fighting among themselves to become the principal Opposition party.
None want to defeat or challenge the BJP. Apart from some stray statements, the Opposition leaders have done almost nothing.
Yuri Alemao, the new Leader of the Opposition, of course, cannot be blamed for the defeat, but the party chief Amit Parkar has been at the helm for quite some time and needs to take the initiative and get the Opposition together. He has to bring like-minded parties like Goa Forward, the Aam Aadmi Party and the Revolutionary Goans Party under one platform and fight the might of the BJP unitedly.
SURAJ NANDREKAR
Editor, Goemkarponn
It was yet another clean sweep for the Dr Pramod Sawant-led BJP government in the State, winning two seats -Davorlim and Reis Magos handsomely, while the party-backed independent candidate won in Cortalim, making it a 3-0 clean sweep for BJP.
The victory also prompted the BJP’s Goa State Chief, Sadanand Shet Tanavade, to challenge all Opposition parties to come together for Lok Sabha polls, scheduled in 2024 and still, “BJP will defeat them and win both Lok Sabha seats”.
Such is the confidence level of the BJP in Goa, which is in line with their national performance.
The BJP handsomely won the Assembly elections in March this year, winning 20 out of 40 seats. Besides, it engineered a major defection in the Opposition Congress by inducting 8 out of 11 MLAs.
BJP’s strength on its own is 28, while it has the support of MGP-2 and three independents – Brute Majority in the 40-member house?
Talking about the performance of the Opposition, well, the Opposition is in disarray. There seemed to be no Opposition, and it seemed like they had accepted defeat even before the poll bugle was sounded.
There seems to be no Opposition unity between the Congress, Revolutionary Goans, Goa Forward and Aam Aadmi Party, who seem to be fighting among themselves to become the principal Opposition party.
None want to defeat or challenge the BJP. Apart from some stray statements, the Opposition leaders have done almost nothing.
Yuri Alemao, the new Leader of the Opposition, of course, cannot be blamed for the defeat, but the party chief Amit Parkar has been at the helm for quite some time and needs to take the initiative and get the Opposition together. He has to bring like-minded parties like Goa Forward, the Aam Aadmi Party and the Revolutionary Goans Party under one platform and fight the might of the BJP unitedly.
What Tanavade said isn’t wrong at all; looking at the things happening around it would be a difficult task for the Opposition to even come close to the BJP candidate’s votes in 2024.
Last time around, Congress’ Francis Sardinha won only and only because Sudin Dhavalikar’s Maharashtrawadi Gpomatak Party (MGP) supported him. Even then, Sardinha won by a thin margin of just 7000 votes against Narendra Sawaikar of the BJP.
It is true that 67% of Goan voters voted against the BJP in the 2022 Assembly elections, but yet the saffron brigade has ended up ruling. This is simply because BJP has mastered the technique of winning elections.
From forming the government with just 13 seats in 2017 to winning 20 seats in 2022 despite the wave being against them, BJP has learned to divide the Opposition.
To come to power BJP is ready to make any compromise be it giving CM’s chair to Eknath Shinde in Maharashtra or agreeing to Vijai Sardesai’s demands of portfolios and three ministries in 2017, BJP is ready to do anything.
On the other hand, Congress. isn’t ready for any such compromises. If Vijai Sardesai was ready to merge his party with the Congress and, in return, wanted the Leader of the Opposition post, what was wrong?
It could have only bolstered Congress. But Congress leaders thought it not worthful even thinking about the issue.
The Congress’s top leaders like Rahul Gandhi, P Chidambaram and Dinesh Gundu Rao seem to be living in a fool’s paradise, thinking people one day will return to the grand old party. But they fail to understand it’s not about people. People are already with them; it is only about the strategy where they have failed miserably.
