Margao the cultural and commercial centre and the cradle of politics in Goa --- dominated by the Brahmin community witnessed the re-entry of Digamber Kamat native of Assolna, now residing in Margao back into the INC at a special function held this evening from 1603 hrs until 1904 hrs
Ideally this ought to be a red letter day. MP Mormugao Parliamentary Constituency and ex CM Mr Churchill Braz Alemao who claimed credit for "netting" a "suffocating" Digu bab from the BJP like a prodigal son was conspicuous by his absence alongwith brother Joaquim Alemao. The reason was obvious the defeat of the party candidate and his "bete noir" Mr Joe for the Chairperson of the South Goa Zilla Panchayat post was cause enough for frustration. He labelled GPCC President Mr Faleiro as the culprit for this betrayal or a stab in the back. Thus when GPCC President rose to speak one senior citizen in the near fully occupied Gomant Vidya Niketan Hall Margao stood up and bluntly rebuked Mr Luizinho Faleiro --stating bluntly that "one needs first to bring UNITY within party man". This received a thunderous applause from those assembled and became the litmus test of the general scorn with which INC voters look at the faction riddled party in Goa Some of the speakers were Mr Jeetendra Deshprabhu Ms Victoria Fernandes Mr Francisco Silveira Mr Chandrakant Kawlekar Mr Ravi Naik Mr Subhash Shirodkar all MLAs (some of them were suspected earlier to be hobnobbing with the BJP and therefore are made to speak at all such ocassions) Mr Shantaram Naik ex MP . In fact the crowd was essentially filled with migrant Moslems and Bahujan Samaj with a sprinkle of the traditional Catholic voters but the Saraswat brahmins were conspicuous by their absence. Most of the ruling Councillors of the Margao Municipal Council were also absent. Mr Digamber Kamat in his 12 minute speech clarified to the audience that in the last two years he felt that "consultation" was lacking in the BJP --- it was a one man decision and others party MLAs were told about it only after an outside coterie decided on issues and events. Even an issue as important as dissolution of the Assembly in February 2002 was conveyed to Mr Ravi Naik then Dy CM by Mr Parrikar only in the morning of dissolution. Therefore he felt sidelined and hence took this step of resigning according to his conscience --- His spouse was also seated on the dais. He countered the charge of betrayal citing the example how Mr Parrikar claimed it was a historic moment (actually this is the practice under the amended antidefection law) when Mr Isidore Fernandes resigned from INC and joined BJP contested and was re-elected--- He therefore saw nothing wrong in his decision roo --- allegations of taking crores were refuted because he admitted that he was a son of a money lender yet led a humble life and stayed in an apartment for the last over 15 years and his doors always open to the public. He stated that power is an essential service and irrespective of constituencies whether it was Quepem or Poinguinim constituencies held by INC then he had always even while in the BJP ensured light to the needy. He claimed to be easily assesible to the masses whether it was a midnight call to accompany someone to the Hospital or explain the power failure he always attended to such calls even late nights to serve his voters. He challenged the audience and reaffirmed that even in the Department of Electricity the linesman have always held him in high esteem. (It is however a fact that most of the accidental deaths also occured during his three five year term that he held the Power portfolio) He credited his entry into public life since 1980 in the Goa Bhagyatadar Agricultural Produce Marketing committee wherein 13 of his panel members were elected and in 12 years of the Chairmanship there was not a single allegation of corruption against him. Pointing out to Mr Jeetendra Deshprabhu MLA Pernem seated on the dais he stated that Mr Desphrabhu was the one man opposition then always castigating the BJP on issues of corruption but had never made an iota of charge against him which was proof enough of his integrity. He also expressed disgruntlment over the fact that while 22 Mamlatdars and 31 Assistant Sub Inspectors were recruited in Goa not a single Margaoite was selected. He admitted that he managed to turn around the Power department profits from 20 crores to 150 crores which was a record of sorts. There was no power failures in Margao. (just then the power failure occured and the audience burst into peels of laughter on two such ocassions) He maintained that he credited the citizens of Margao for having elected him both as Councillor and thrice as MLA though he was also defeated by a paltry 400 and odd votes on one ocassion (which incidentally led him to switch sides into the BJP at the next hustings in 1994 ) For him his vision was "maza shahar maza ganv" and towards this end he admitted that the voters have voted "Mr Kamat as an individual and not for the party ticket on which he stood because the voter knews him as "kam korpi monis" Ironically there was not much difference in his speech because this was the same speech he made at a felicitation function in his honour two years ago and the only difference is while this time he castigated the BJP and praised the INC earlier it was the other way round. One senior citizen remarked "Mr Kamat is truly a kattar "SARASWAT BRAHMIN" for they are known traditionally to preach just the opposite of what they practice " It may be noted that Mr Kamat in an interview to a weekly magazine admitted that his resignation "may have not been timed properly" and that perhaps why many see it as a betrayal -- because he did vote in favour of the BJP in the trust vote on 2nd February 2005 and also huddled the BJP MLAs to Jaipur to avoid horse trading by INC -- until he suddenly quit on 24th February, 2005 without consulting his supporters as alleged by BJP Margao Yuva leader Mr Chandan Naik It may be recalled that Mr Kamat polled over 8000 votes against the INC candidates 3700 odd votes in June 2002 elections thus registering a near 66% over his nearest rival 28% of the total 13000 odd votes polled. While the BJP candidate has not been decided yet though fingers are pointed out to Mr Pandurang (Bhai) Anant Naik (son of late ex MLA Babu Naik) Mr Manohar Babu Ajgaonkar ex Margao Municipal Council and present Dhargalim (SC) MLA or Mr Rupesh Mahatme Councillor Malbhat But a surprise move could be Chairperson Margao Municipal Council & Ward V councillor Mrs Kamilini Poinguinkar( a veteran ex MGP party office bearer now in the BJP and a close confidant of Mr Digamber Kamat until his sommersault back into the INC fold) Both these above Councillors have been accompanying the ex CM Mr Manohar Parrikar during his door to door damage control measures to --- retaliate against the "betrayal" and "suffocating " theory of Mr Digamber Kamat. For Mr Parrikar and the BJP it is a prestige issue to win the Margao seat and therefore he will spare no pains to ensure the defeat of Mr Kamat though at the time of writing this is a tall order --- without the prospective BJP candidate in view. If Mr Kamat is to be defeated as of now one needs to enure a) the 11 booths committees of Margao extending from Rawanfond Calconda Sirvodem Comba Railway Station Khareaband Malbhat Aquem Alto and Baixo needs to be well oiled with a maximum of 25 hard core "anti Digamber Kamat" men at each booth to get the voters to "press" the lotus on the Electronic Voting Machine should a bye election be announced --- b) the influential Brahmin community should be convinced to "teach" Mr Kamat a lesson, for defecting from the BJP c) splitting the Hindu Bahujan Samaj vote ---mostly "gadekars" kiosk owners or traders from Shiroda now turned "noveau riche" having settled in Margao and others economically weaker section d) convincing the Moslems mostly non Goans vegetable and fruit vendors or authorickshaw and mini bus owners auto mechanics to vote for good governance or assurance of a roof -- d) the Catholics will obviously vote for the HAND or vocal few will stay away from the polls owing to disenchantment with the INC infighting and stock of MLAs presently in power and this could be of help to ensure Mr Kamats defeat.Mr Parrikars campaign will certainly pull in some votes atleast from Catholic women for they are convinced that communal acts apart Mr Parrikar is a man with a mission and many of his actions deserve appreciation -- though they are between the devil and the deep sea given to chose between communalism and development. However the INC High Command is aware of the infighting within the party and may finally approve dissolution and fresh Assembly elections in the State as a barter with the BJP to ensure to implementation of VAT (value added tax regime) come 1st April 2005 >From the GOMANT VIDYA NIKETAN HALL GODFREY J I GONSALVES BORDA MARGAO GOA [EMAIL PROTECTED] ________________________________________________________________________ Yahoo! India Matrimony: Find your life partner online Go to: http://yahoo.shaadi.com/india-matrimony ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Give underprivileged students the materials they need to learn. 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