Not just Assam, Maha: Rebellion brews in Goa Cong against Rahul

Panaji: Assam and Maharashtra aren’t the only two states where a rebellion is brewing against Rahul Gandhi-appointed satraps.

In the country’s party capital Goa, the internal dissent within the Congress has reduced the party into a virtual lame-duck, with a clear rift emerging between the Rahul-endorsed state president John Fernandes and the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader and former chief minister Pratapsing Rane.

In the CLP itself, Leader of Opposition Pratapsing Rane’s performance has been lacklustre and under criticism by a section of MLAs, including Taleigao MLA Atanasio Monserrate, who commands control over at least two other party MLAs, which includes his wife. A day before the month-long monsoon session of the Goa legislative got underway on 22 July, the simmering tension within the party’s two factions even spilled out on Facebook.

A post uploaded by Congress organising secretary Durgadas Kamat, appointed by Fernandes on efforts being taken by the Congress to boost its IT outreach, forced MLA Vishwajeet Rane, Pratapsing’s son, to call the Congress in Goa “junk”.

In three separate comments Vishwajeet, a former health minister, commented, “It’s too late the party has to be revamped and junk thrown out”. “Part(y) in present form is junk in Goa.” “All this is of no use.”

In October 2013, Vishwajeet Rane had stirred a storm after he said on Facebook that he wanted to see Jyotiraditya Scindia as the party’s prime ministerial candidate and not Rahul Gandhi. A day later he claimed that his social media manager had committed a goof-up and that Rahul was his man for the job at 7 Race Course Road.

Outrage and a rebellion against the Rahul Gandhi-backed Fernandes has been brewing for several months now and Vishwajeet is not its only voice. Pratapsing Rane too has openly complained against Fernandes in June, after stunning revelations from a mining operator Bhalchandra Naik who accused the Rane father-son duo of accepting bribes to the tune of Rs 10 crore for lobbying to get green clearances for a mining lease during the United Progressive Alliance (UPA)-II tenure.

What made the revelations even more shocking was that they were made at a press conference at the state Congress headquarters, where Naik was flanked by Fernandes. “I have spoken to my leaders in Delhi about it,” Rane said, adding that the use of a Congress office to slander its own leaders was unfair. Both father and son have since been booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA) by the Goa Police and have sought anticipatory bail.

Fernandes on the other hand insists that he is a man on a mission was appointed as a Congress president for Goa by the party High Command in December 2013, with an objective to purge the party of corruption and create a bank of young leaders for the future.

“I have been told to revive the party. I am just going about my job,” Fernandes told Firstpost. Such is the level of resentment of several senior party leaders, which includes legislators like Rane, Monserrate featured in a ‘sponsored’ feature on a local cable news channel on how Fernandes should be replaced as soon as possible.

A drubbing in the 2012 state assembly elections has already reduced the Congress to an unprecedented nine MLAs in the 40-member Goa legislative assembly. If the consistently poorly attended Congress Legislative Party (CLP) meetings are any indicator, there seems to be little control which both Fernandes as well as Rane appear to have over the legislators.

Mauvin Godinho, a party MLA from Dabolim has openly defied the party diktats and refused to work for the party’s candidate in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, forcing the party to dissolve the Congress block in his constituency and appoint fresh faces.

“We are not calling him for any party meetings. The High Command has instructed us to let him rot and be a parasite in the BJP,” says Congress spokesperson Durgadas Kamat of Godinho. Two other MLAs former chief minister Digambar Kamat and Quepem legislator Babu Kavlekar are both being probed for a mining scam and land grabbing and have been mute spectators in contemporary politics. In fact, Kamat, has been so extremely low-key for the last couple of years, that he literally made ‘news’ when he participated in a recent party dharna to protest against the rail fare hike just before the Union Budget.

Party sources claim that All India Congress Committee (AICC) Digvijaya Singh had warned all legislators to attend the protest or face action. When Singh was in Goa last month, he too failed to bring both the warring factions to heed, but he did have a piece of advice, which exposes the fatal flaws of both Fernandes and Rane to prop the party. For the outspoken Congress president, Digvijaya Singh’s advice was simple: “Speak less, work more”.

And when asked why Rane had failed as an effective leader of opposition, Singh said: “Rane ji is too much of a gentleman”.