Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s video conference call with party booth workers in Goa as part of his ‘Mera Booth Sabse Mazboot’ initiative comes as a wake-up call to the State which is completely oblivious of the looming Lok Sabha elections.
From an assurance of looking at a judicial solution to the mining problem in Goa to likening his movement to ‘janshakti’ and an ‘inspiring’ word on Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, Modi’s outreach is a wake-up call to his partymen who have virtually pushed the Lok Sabha contest to the back burner.
While leaders at the national level are making moves for the mother of all battles – the Lok Sabha polls, the scene in Goa remains distinctly different. The intensity was evident when twenty leaders came together in Kolkata in a show of unity and slammed the Modi government with jibes like “it has reached its expiry date”.
While the poll pitch is heating up elsewhere, the Goa players are focusing their energies on the all important Shiroda and Mandrem by-elections. For the state, the by-polls assume tremendous significance for two reasons. Firstly, it will send a strong message to power hungry party-hoppers. Secondly, and most importantly, a result could change the power equations in the State.
The bright spot for the BJP is the fact that it has the backing of the allies for the Lok Sabha and that could make their job relatively easy. But talk of the by-poll and the party is likely to face opposition from its own ally MGP, if we are to believe the Dhavalikar brothers. That’s not all. There are bigger worries for the party at the by-poll. It will have to decide on giving a ticket in Mandrem and Shiroda without ruffling the party ranks. The paradox which the saffron party faced at the time of recruiting Dayanand Sopte and Subhash Shirodkar has returned to haunt them. It remains to be seen how the BJP goes about this delicate balancing job between senior partymen and grass root workers on one side and new Congress recruits on the other. The party faces the challenge of containing dissent from those denied ticket and senior BJP leader Laxmikant Parsekar and Mahadev Naik have already spoken their mind.
To make matters worse, Parrikar in all probability will be out of active negotiations and campaigning, and it will be left to the second rung of the party, which is facing resentment, to deal with troubleshooting.
On the other side of the fence, the Congress is still in oblivion and yet to warm up to elections, both Lok Sabha and bypoll. It is to be seen how the grand old party capitalizes on the Shirodkar fallout. The Shiroda by-poll will decide between the popularity of the candidate and the people’s allegiance to the party. Moreover, Congress should understand how significant the by-poll is for them, an election which can give the party a second shot at power.
