Deceased Manohar Parrikar’s successor, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, lost no time in winning the confidence vote in the state assembly Wednesday, a day after he was sworn in as CM. Sawant has proven beyond doubt that his government will be stable, at least for now. The 20 votes he won in favour in a house of 36 members is more than what he has bargained for, and should dampen the spirits of the Congress, the single largest party with 14 members in the assembly. The Congress efforts immediately after the demise of Parrikar Monday failed just as its attempts to form a ministry failed in the immediate aftermath of the assembly polls in 2017.
Sawant as Parrikar’s protégé functioned as Speaker of the assembly in an admirable manner. Hence, his choice as new CM is not disputed within the party. At the same time, he will now have a hard time ahead to match up to the kind of leadership Parrikar gave for Goa even as he was ailing and under treatment for the past one year. Parrikar left behind a great legacy as CM for repeated terms and also as defence minister in the Modi government for some time. The mass leader that he was, and a Brahmin by birth, he rose beyond sectarian considerations and won the admiration of all, including the strongly entrenched Christians who are generally not well-disposed to politicians of the saffron shade.
Sawant has strong backing of the RSS, which should keep him in good stead in the BJP’s scheme of things. At the same time, the RSS in Goa is a divided house, as past events showed. Parrikar had the knack to tread a careful course and keep everyone on his side. Sawant will now have to prove he would not let the party down. Parrikar’s demise might revive debates over allegations surrounding the PMO’s role in the Rafale deal, about which the deceased leader reportedly carried with him copies of some confidential files. If this was true, the BJP leadership might have acted in haste to cover up matters. If not, embarrassing new disclosures could be expected in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls.
Parrikar as a politician was a class by himself. He walked with the ordinary people and never threw his weight around. His untimely departure is a matter of grief to one and all.