Congress troubleshooter DK Shivakumar is once again in the mood to douse the fire. This time, as the party’s “last resort” in the coastal state of Goa.
While Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders in Goa are preparing to move their MLAs to a nearby resort, Karnataka Congress chief Shivakumar has been instructed by the party high command to ensure that his Goa Congress swarm is one. Stay together, even if it means keeping them locked inside a resort.
Shivakumar confirmed to News18 that he will be staying in Goa as it is his “duty as a party worker”.
“An entire team of leaders from Karnataka has worked hard and given their best, so I will be there as a party worker from a neighboring state to help our leaders,” he said.
Shivakumar has previously been famous for resorts to protecting Karnataka’s elected MLAs from poaching by the BJP.
tactical timeout
Determined not to repeat the fiasco of 2017, when the Congress fell on its feet and lost the chance to form the government, Shivakumar has been sent to assist senior Congressmen P Chidambaram and Dinesh Gundu Rao in addressing the issues, if any. to sort out.
Congress The high command has changed its strategy for the small, yet crucial state with 40 assembly seats, by sending the best troubleshooters to camp there before the day of counting.
Read also | Exit Polls Point To Fractured Mandate In Goa, Congress Back In Resort Politics To Avoid 2017 Redux
Chidambaram and Rao have been in Goa for months to resolve internal strife and prevent defection.
In a similar effort, Goa’s incumbent CM Pramod Sawant And Goa BJP chief Sadanand Tanawade reached Delhi after Prime Minister Narendra Modi called him for a meeting. Soon after, BJP sources told News18 that Sawant and Tanwade were in Mumbai to meet the Goa in-charge. Devendra Fadnavis And come up with a plan.
What happened in 2017?
In 2017, Goa CongressDespite being the single largest party, winning 17 out of 40 seats, three former chief ministers, Luizinho Faleiro, Digambar Kamat and Pratapsinh Rane, did not form a government, leading to long and hard fights at Hotel Mandovi to be elected as the party’s chief minister. Candidate.
in between, Goa The BJP turned to the then Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari. Parrikar, along with 13 of his MLAs, gathered at a five-star resort in Dona Paula to garner numbers for the BJP and stake claim to form the government.
With a fractured mandate in Goa, regional party Like the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party and the Goa Forward Party, which had three MLAs each, were ready to grab. Hours after Gadkari reached Goa, in a quick phone call to the BJP high command, it was decided to persuade MGP and GFP to forge an alliance with him. Parrikar was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Goa on March 14 with the support of NCP, MGP, GFP and independent candidates.
This time, Shivakumar will play the role of Gadkari for the Congress in Goa. Highly respected by his party men for his relentless fighting spirit and loyalty to the party, it is a quality the Congress wants to take advantage of if they manage to win enough seats to form the government in Goa. .
tried and tested
an example of how shivkumar Things may change in Karnataka after the 2018 elections. Karnataka BJP won 105 seats to become the single largest party in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly, while Congress got only 78 and JD(S) 37 seats. Majority mark. Shivakumar kept a watch on the MLAs on the outskirts of Bengaluru and snatched their mobiles to ensure that they were not even in touch with their families.
Even on the day Yeddyurappa stepped out for the trust vote in July 2019, shivkumar Two disgruntled Congress MLAs, Pratap Gowda Patil and Anand Singh, were locked up in a hotel room to ensure voting in favor of the JDS-Congress alliance. Both the MLAs were hesitating to support Yeddyurappa.
With the now familiar “resort politics”, the Congress has symbolically administered the oath of allegiance to its Goa candidates as well.
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