Married and single

The loose alliance of non-BJP political parties is not a force to reckon with

| JANUARY 18, 2017, 12:00 AM IST

Is it possible to be in an alliance and out of it at the same time? Like being married and single, at the same time? It is, if you are in politics and in the Congress. What started out as an alliance with the Goa Forward Party, Nationalist Congress Party and United Goans Party quickly degenerated into a seat-sharing arrangement and subsequently sunk to somethingknown as adjustmento tenuous is the pact that even central leader Digvijaya Singh was wary of announcing it at his much-awaited press conference yesterday. All he said was the final picture would emerge today when nominations come to a close. The only fireworks, quite literally, were provided by Congress workers from the Fatorda constituency who believe the high command stabbed them in the back, a practice that happens in politics more often than not. They burnt an effigy of Singh at the party headquarters in Panaji to express their displeasure and perhaps that of their leader, Luizinho Faleiro who, let’s admit it, did a lot to rebuild the party and was keen on going it alone.

So who really gains from this arrangement? An alliance is meant to create a synergy between two parties. The general feeling is that having a conglomeration of like-minded parties is to prevent a split of votes and present a strong alternative to the ruling party, which is desperately attempting to put out bush fires sparked by its choice of candidates. The Congress, by aligning with the GF now has a fighting chance in Fatorda, Saligao and Siolim. Although Porvorim has been left to Goa Forward, Rohan Khaunte, who flirted with the party for a while, has decided to remain single. Irrespective of the outcome of the friendly fight in Velim, this seat can be counted, unless Benjamin Silva proves everyone wrong and pulls of a miracle victory. As far as the UGP is concerned, the Congress now has a formidable candidate in Babush Monserrate in Panaji. This is the same Monserrate who was unceremoniously kicked out after the by-elections to the same seat, without so much as serving him a show-cause. The only problem with UGP is that there is no guarantee that it will back the Congress after the polls, but those are the risks one takes in an election.

This shaky arrangement has come about, not due to the lack of a strategy. Faleiro had a clear strategy of going it alone. The problem is, the Congress Legislative Party, which comprises people who actually won elections, did not think it was good enough. The high command, which did not seem too interested in what was happening in Goa, bought the CLP argument quite late in the day and instead of going to the polls as one anti-BJP force, the coalition, or whatever one wants to call it, will be going to the electorate as a confused and divided lot. It’s a case of an opportunity burnt at the altar of one-upmanship.

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