---------------------------------------------------------- WHAT'S ON IN GOA: * Oct 06: Alzheimers conf ends Sun 2pm, Porvorim * Oct 11: ML Sardesai's translation of Satre's "Les Mots" in Konkani, 5:30pm * Oct 12: Goa Orchestra performs at the Kala (Corelli, Bach) * Mid-Oct: 2-day ornithologists workshop, Bondla southernbirdwing.com ----------------------------------------------------------
PARRIKER SURVIVES BY DIVIDE-AND-RULE ... HIS GAMEPLAN IS SIMPLE, SAYS NARVEKAR EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW Congress deputy leader of the Opposition, Dayanand Narvekar, has emerged as one of the more strident critics of the government --- sharp, focussed and informed. Pamela D'Mello caught up with this controversial politician, who however remains one of the few in the Opposition to actually keep trying to play the role of an effective opposition, and sought his opinions to present a contra-view of a government which generally manages a good press. Narvekar explains why Panjim municipal council shouldn't be bulldozed into being a corporation, explains why he sees this as a move to help the builder's lobby, and decries the state government's diminishing financial responsibility towards civic bodies. Facing taxes of Rs 7000 per man, woman and child, Goa is the highest taxed state in India, charges Narvekar. He questions the government's priorities in its lavish spendings, and warns that the policies of the party in power could result in a bankruptcy and heavy indebtedness of the state exhequer. Says this former long-time Congress minister, who at one stage also crossed the floor: "Mr Parrikar is on a populist drive. He wants to make a name for himself. Whether it goes to the right or wrong people, he is not bothered. " Politicians linked to the ruling party are being allowed to get off scot-free, even when induging in scams. BJP is trying to take over a number of financial and even sporting institutions in the state, he says. "There is absolutely no doubt, that everything he (the chief minister) does is for a (calculated) result. Every action he takes, he expects benefits, either personally or to the party. I don't think any Chief Minister in the past has done such things, right from (Dayanand) Bandodkar, Sashikala or Rane. They always thought of Goa as a whole community. It was never thought of in small parochial terms. But Parrikar's thinking has been like that. 'If I don't benefit I'm not there. If I don't get this institution, I will see that the institution is destroyed," charges Narvekar.. Other issues Narvekar talks about are the manipulation of the recent May 2002 Goa assembly elections, the misuse of Section 151 of the Criminal Procedure Code, what he reads as the political agenda of the BJP, and the Ticket-gate scam in which he himself was charged. On the murky politics within the Congress itself, Narvekar has this to say: "There are so many groups (within the Congress). I talk less and work more in the field. We are still not overcoming our groupism. Internally, they are trying to settle scores with each other. Somebody wants to be good with the (BJP) CM. One politician got a CBI case withdrawn against him, just before assembly was dissolved. There are lots of (behind-the-scene) understandings going on. "This is the way of divide-and-rule. So we are surrendering to people like this. Parrikar's game plan is very simple. Who can stop him from getting 21 MLAs? Then people will realise what the agenda of the RSS and BJP is in Goa. Only at that time, not now. " SEE THE FULL-TEXT OF this interview which gives a politician's-eye-view picture of today's Goa at http://www.freenewsgoa.net ======================================================================== To Subscribe/Unsubscribe from GoaNet | http://www.goacom.com/goanet ======================================================================== For (un)subscribing or for help, Contact: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Dont want so many e-mails? Join GoaNet-Digest instead!
