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Despite the ‘LinkedIn sounding’ headline, I assure you, this isn’t a LinkedIn-esque post. Welcome to yet another edition of Gerard’s Gazette, a weekly newsletter in which I attempt to break down the events of the week gone by and offer a bit of context, as well as a dose of news you may have missed and news behind the news. If this is your first time here, thank you for signing up, and I hope you stick around! And, as always, if you like what you are reading, make sure you pass it around. Thanks for reading GERARD’s Gazette! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Three takeaways from the cabinet ‘reshuffle’ So, there you have it. The long-delayed and much-heralded ‘reshuffle’ of the Goa cabinet took place this week -- events that were set in motion after Aleixo Sequeira, the Minister of Environment, Law and Judiciary, Captain of Ports, etc. -- a minister, who, it would seem -- spent more time in hospital than out, this year -- tendered his resignation as a minister [ https://substack.com/redirect/5c4715f2-e956-4c0f-978a-363bca5b6dd5?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ]. This was followed by the resignation of Ramesh Tawadkar as Speaker [ https://substack.com/redirect/8be36aea-3d5a-4f3b-b47c-1183a8837bb5?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ] and their swearing in as ministers on August 21 [ https://substack.com/redirect/5514dae0-2a70-4597-96b1-b2139743d230?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ]. So, what do we make of this ‘reshuffle’ if we can even call it one? No surprises here For starters, I must note that there is nothing unexpected about this development. The moment Govind Gaude was sacked earlier this year [ https://substack.com/redirect/c46ca85b-22ad-410e-a2b2-f589d5bcc8ad?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ], there was only one way things would go and that is with his post being occupied by Ramesh Tawadkar -- a like for like replacement since both hailed from the ST community. Things were less certain when it came to the other change that was to be made. However, it soon became clear that Aleixo Sequeira -- with all his hospital visits, and otherwise lacklustre performance -- was chosen to be the fall guy. So what do we make of Sequeira's statement that he was quitting on personal grounds and not health grounds [ https://substack.com/redirect/32720d31-bd73-4e34-8385-38d50ff62a79?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ]? Well, the story goes that Kamat, who has been eying a cabinet berth ever since he switched sides to the BJP, was told that his wish would be fulfilled only if Sequeira makes way. In other words, Sequeira was told to resign to make way for Kamat, and not so much because he wasn’t in the best of health. I mean since when is health a reason for a minister to quit? Do you really need reminding of a time not too long ago when the state was being run from a hospital bed [ https://substack.com/redirect/137f5958-f8b5-4ec9-b22d-6b70e3194c25?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ]? Which brings me to the other significant conclusion of the recent reshuffle exercise. Manohar Parrikar’s legacy: A closed chapter You see, legend has it, that when Manohar Parrikar was diagnosed with cancer, the BJP central leadership -- in the absence of any credible second rung leadership -- came up with a plan to have Parrikar replaced as Chief Minister by Digambar Kamat -- who then too was ready and willing. Kamat, with his history in the RSS, his rise in politics as a BJP MLA and one of the original fab four to be elected as MLAs the first time BJP won seats in the Goa Legislative Assembly back in 1994 -- the others being Manohar Parrikar, Shripad Naik and Narahari Haldankar (of Cajulana fame) -- was seen as a suitable candidate in the absence of other credible options. Every single other BJP minister at the time was a Congress product. People tend to forget how badly the BJP had lost the 2017 assembly elections (but still stitched a way back to power). But Parrikar would have none of it. His reply to the said proposal was something to the effect of: “Over my dead body!” Parrikar and Kamat had clearly fallen out irreconcilably, after the latter betrayed him and switched to the Congress back in 2005 leading to the fall of the Parrikar government that year. Parrikar would have to wait another seven years to become chief minister again -- a period during which Kamat went on to become the first chief minister of Goa -- and only one till date -- to complete a full term. Sawant is on course to become the second one if all goes well (for him). You don’t need me to remind you (but if you do, I’m always there), how the BJP went after Kamat (and Churchill Alemão) for the Louis Berger bribery case [ https://substack.com/redirect/b5366689-23ef-43b6-9b2d-e251f1882543?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ], a case the duo are still facing trial for, and to a certain extent the Goa illegal mining case. Kamat was discharged [ https://substack.com/redirect/b93f8b77-d92a-4a2a-990a-7770bcf7ecfc?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ]earlier this year in one of the said cases [ https://substack.com/redirect/b93f8b77-d92a-4a2a-990a-7770bcf7ecfc?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ], in which he was a prime accused. As an aside, the BJP never really pursued the illegal mining cases with any real enthusiasm, perhaps because they might end up implicating some of their own buddies in the process. It’s not without reason, that back in 2022 when eight Congress MLAs including Kamat switched to the BJP, then state president Sadanand Shet Tanavade said that if it were left to him -- he would not take back Kamat in the BJP [ https://substack.com/redirect/c2300bba-a652-4b1c-8f19-e02c5a37fe6b?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ]. With his induction into the BJP, the state party has closed the final chapter on Manohar Parrikar’s legacy in the state [ https://substack.com/redirect/1b3cf376-590d-4e17-81dd-b01830a565db?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ]. But that leaves us with the final ‘lesson’ we can learn from this ‘reshuffle’. Same sh*t, Different A**ehole As pointed out by Vijai Sardesai [ https://substack.com/redirect/4d4375d6-b273-43c2-8b14-6a79efb2a2f3?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ], more than half of the present cabinet is the same as the one headed by Digambar Kamat between 2007. The list includes Vishwajit Rane, Atanasio Monserrate, Mauvin Godinho, Ravi Naik, Sudin Dhavalikar, Nilkanth Halarnkar, besides Kamat himself taking the total to seven out of 12. If one includes Subhash Shirodkar, who wasn’t part of the Kamat cabinet, but who was a former Congress minister, who was the Congress chief during Kamat’s tenure as Chief Minister, the figure stands at eight. Among the present lot only Sawant himself, Subhash Phaldessai and Ramesh Tawadkar have only ever been BJP MLAs. Rohan Khaunte too was an independent backed by the Congress when he was first elected. If any more evidence was needed that no matter which party you elect the same bunch enjoys power, here’s it right in front of your eyes. But before you go, don’t forget that both the Chief Minister and the party president say that this is not the end and that there could be more changes on the way [ https://substack.com/redirect/b5241596-14ca-44fb-b413-388dbf821e90?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ]. Is this just a carrot to dangle in front of those who haven’t made the cut this time, to keep the existing lot on their toes or is there really something yet cooking? Either way it makes little practical difference in terms of whether governance will improve or not. So don’t bother breaking your head over it. But if you really want to know, and if the grapevine is to be believed [ https://substack.com/redirect/7dbaccd5-64b7-4856-b136-8f7e19db4c5e?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ]-- Mauvin Godinho, Atanasio Monserrate and possibly Nilkanth Halarnkar all better be worried. Bhutani -- the real test is now It’s been a while since we’ve heard from them and their egregious Acqua Eden project [ https://substack.com/redirect/883ce9a6-7798-49b2-83e0-201a9352602a?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ] being planned along the hillside that was once marked as a private forest in Sancoale. I’ve written about them before [ https://substack.com/redirect/883ce9a6-7798-49b2-83e0-201a9352602a?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ] and have also written about why the project is legally circumspect and why permission should not have been granted for the project. [ https://substack.com/redirect/97e546d9-de98-4a01-8139-8f70626290ac?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ] (If you didn’t get the hint, well this is me telling you to read the earlier pieces). Well that very question is now being decided before the Bombay High Court at Goa with the bone of contention being the slope gradient of the land in question. To me and to most people, it appears that not only is the plot gradient greater than 25% (maximum permissible for constructions to be permitted) but that that’s a serious cliff staring us in the face. But then you and I being the country bumpkins that we are, don’t know as much as the experts do -- the same experts who granted the permission based on certifications that the plot is not a no-development slope. And so, with the permissions being challenged, things have now come down to what the actual slope of the plot is. At this point things start to get technical. Luckily for us, the venerable architect Tahir Noronha, who is wiser than he looks, has broken this down into a video in two parts that you can find here [ https://substack.com/redirect/4438d250-9366-4579-984f-86024de75cb5?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ] and here [ https://substack.com/redirect/f7f2dfe2-b122-4c04-9aab-841f8cf91526?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ]. Do check it out and let’s hope that, for the sake of the Sancoale private forest that apparently no longer classifies as one, the survey will confirm what seems apparent to the naked eye (but which might not necessarily be so). If rescinded, it won’t be the first time that a major project [ https://substack.com/redirect/201a7900-6578-478d-bb77-516a5a886ec8?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ]in the Sancoale Dabolim area gets scrapped [ https://substack.com/redirect/45d2d563-2985-4c86-977b-c453d01cefee?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ] on account of permissions being granted in a circumspect manner [ https://substack.com/redirect/2ab4281d-7bbd-452a-ab09-0a91a7c112df?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ] on land that is a no development slope. That’s all I have for you this week. Make sure you comment or write in, should you have something, anything to say. I would also invite you to contribute via sending in your views, especially on a subject you know something about, and I will be happy to include it as part of the newsletter. You are also welcome to write in with leads and tip-offs or anything that you think might be interesting enough to include here. As always, please share and help spread the word. Until next week, then. Tchau! Thanks for reading GERARD’s Gazette! This post is public so feel free to share it. 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