For Vishwajit Rane, taking charge of the health portfolio is sweet revenge against the BJP. And for the BJP, handing it over to him is a fall from grace. The new health minister is not the kind of person who waits for something to come to him. He just goes out and gets it. That is how he got the portfolio and this is the approach he brings to his department. He wants to revamp the 108 service. He wants to tweak the Deen Dayal Swasthya Seva Yojana. He was the first to launch a universal medical insurance, but it was hijacked by the Parrikar government. He wants to put in place new systems of management at the Goa Medical College and streamline work at Asilo and Hospicio. In short he is a man with a mission.
He showed the same kind of energy five years ago, but then he was reviled by the BJP. He was accused of purchasing insulin pens at an exorbitant rate. He was charged with gifting away permission to open a super specialty cardiac unit to an Israeli company instead of starting one at the GMC. The contract for screening new born children, which was signed with NeoGen Labs at a cost of Rs 8.33 crore per year was scrapped by Laxmikant Parsekar when he took over as health minister. And his decision to hand over the north Goa district hospital to a private party was opposed by the BJP which threatened an agitation if he went forward with his plans. So determined was Rane that he kept the hospital closed for three years while he scouted for a private player. To put it plainly, he was one of the few ministers singled out by the BJP for censure.
Now Rane is back with the same portfolio and with the blessings of Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, who was one of his most bitter critics. This turn of fortunes for Rane and misfortune for the BJP speaks volumes of the BJP which has stooped really low to form government. For Rane, as mentioned earlier, it’s just sweet revenge.
As is often said, in politics there are no permanent friends or enemies, just permanent interests. The Parrikar government, formed with a collection of strange bedfellows is ready to accommodate anyone to remain stable, including Rane. This signals a complete loss of ideology. Vision has been replace by expediency and one wonders if the government will move forward, backwards or sideways.
In the present scheme of things, Rane might not have the complete freedom that he had in the Digambar Kamat regime and that could be a good thing, but given the framework of the present government, there is still a lot that he could achieve and Parrikar would reduce his own burden if he were to channel Rane’s energy in the right direction.
