Editor, Goemkarponn
AERIAL VIEW
Cabral was hand-picked by Manohar Parrikar for 2012 after his Goa yatra and was instrumental in granting ticket to him against Shyam Satardekar from Curchorem.
However, soon after Manohar Parrikar was elevated to the position of Defence Minister of India and Laxmikant Parsekar was named his replacement.
But in 2017, BJP came back to power again with the help of Goa Forward, MGP and independents.
Cabral was not in the list of ministers appointed by Parrikar but soon after then St Andre MLA Pandurang Madkaikar fell sick, Cabral got his chance in the State cabinet.
This was somewhere in April-May, few months after elections, that year.
Time was also approaching for Manohar Parrikar to get re-elected to keep his CM’s chair and hence one of MLA’s had to sacrifice his seat.
SURAJ NANDREKAR
Editor, Goemkarponn
In a shocking development, the Goa Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant asked the PWD Minister Nilesh Cabral to tender his resignation and decided to induct one of the eight turncoats Alexio Sequeira in his cabinet.
The move has come as a shock to many as Nilesh was a staunch BJP men and moreso a Parrikar man as he was known.
Cabral was hand-picked by Manohar Parrikar for 2012 after his Goa yatra and was instrumental in granting ticket to him against Shyam Satardekar from Curchorem.
However, soon after Manohar Parrikar was elevated to the position of Defence Minister of India and Laxmikant Parsekar was named his replacement.
But in 2017, BJP came back to power again with the help of Goa Forward, MGP and independents.
Cabral was not in the list of ministers appointed by Parrikar but soon after then St Andre MLA Pandurang Madkaikar fell sick, Cabral got his chance in the State cabinet.
This was somewhere in April-May, few months after elections, that year.
Time was also approaching for Manohar Parrikar to get re-elected to keep his CM’s chair and hence one of MLA’s had to sacrifice his seat.
While many others were reluctant to do so, only two MLAs came forward and that were Panaji MLA Siddharth Kuncoliencar and Curchorem MLA Nilesh Cabral.
Cabral said he was ready to sacrifice his seat for Parrikar, but the seasoned politician chose Panaji over Curchorem.
Nonetheless, he was thankful to Cabral for being ready to sacrifice his seat.
However, in politics they say, the crooks are rewarded while the honest are punished and maybe that was the case with Cabral.
There is no attempt here to suggest that Cabral was honest minister or politician but certainly he was a BJP loyal, he has done a lot for the party right from the 2012 in Curchorem and elsewhere and was known as a minister who was ready to take bull by its horns.
It was visible when he personally met the double tracking protestors and the NGOs and Goans who opposed the Coastal Zone Management Plan.
He tried his best to clear the doubts of the protestors maybe he did not suceed but definitely he made an attempt unlike other ministers who feel they are superior and need no go to the public to clear their doubts.
Cabral was also the minister who brought a kind of discipline in Electricity department and moreover in the Law department with reforms like online appointments, registration of birth & deaths amongst many others.
Online payments of power bills, PWD bills etc are all works of Cabral.
Defectors rewarded but
disqualification sword hangs on….
Even though the eight defectors from Congress were being rewarded with chairmanships in corporations and cabinet berth, the Domcles sword continues to hang on the ehads of the eight defectors with the Supreme Court asking for quick disposal of the case.
As such the fate of all 8 MLAs, who split from Congress to the BJP in September 2022, hangs in balance that means the order can come anytime even though the Speaker seems to be buying time.
The Speaker of the Goa Assembly, Ramesh Tawadkar, states that there is no set period of time for determining whether to grant disqualification petitions and that the idea of a “time-bound decision” is nonexistent in this situation.
Tawadkar asserts that the parties are requesting more time, not him, and that he is listening to them while claiming that the disqualification petition is still pending.
Tawadkar made his statement at the same moment that he had previously gone on record promising to establish a deadline for deciding the disqualification petition against eight MLAs who had defected. In the High Court of Bombay in Goa, he was also recorded as promising to hear the petitions and make a prompt decision.
Tawadkar said that the parties are requesting more time for arguments. Tawadkar is currently hearing four disqualification petitions, three of which are directed at eight former Congress MLAs and one against Digambar Kamat and Michael Lobo, two MLAs who voluntarily left the Congress party.
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