In the multi-cornered contests in Goa, the ruling BJP failed to win majority. The saffron party came second after the Congress, which surprising all pollsters, managed to win 19 seats. But it too remained two seats away from majority 21 seats, needed to form a government in the 40-member state assembly. However, it was highly disappointing for the AAP. In spite of pulling all the stops, which including party fielding all senior leaders in Goa for campaigning and door-to-door meetings, it failed to win even a single seat. That means, the AAP’s ideology and its way of functioning have been summarily rejected by electorates in the state, where it hoped to form a government. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal himself camped a long time in the state. Four months before the announcement of polls by the Election Commission, the AAP volunteers, some of whom had come from abroad had landed in Goa for canvassing on behalf of the party. But results proved that Goa is not Delhi where the rooky party had won landslide victory in the 2015 polls. Lesson has to learn by the BJP also. It was a ruling party with no anti-incumbency factor against it. Yet it performed badly. It seems that turf war between the saffron party and its parent body, RSS has proved disastrous for the former. RSS wanted implementation of Konkani and Marathi as medium of instruction. The BJP government, disregarding RSS’s lobbying, continued with English as medium of instructions in primary schools. This upset the Sangh pariwar, and it refused to support the BJP during the assembly polls. This benefited the Congress party which was backed by the Christian community as well as those who were unhappy with the BJP’s government’s rigid stand on the medium of instruction issue.
What would be next course of option for parties?
Since neither of the BJP and the Congress has gained majority on its own to form a government, each one will look for support from the MGP and others to set up the government. The MGP with its hard core Hindutva ideology is more close to the BJP than the Congress. It had withdrawn support from the Lakshmikant Pariskar government a few months before the election. Therefore, chances of coming together of the MGP and BJP can’t be ruled out. Still it needs more seats to form a government. In this regard, it will have to be seen how the BJP manages the numbers. On the other hand, the Congress is just two seats short of majority mark. To achieve it, there is a possibility the grand old party gets support from Independents. Yet there’s many a slip ‘twixt the cup and the lip. One will have to wait to see how the political situation evolves in the post-election period.
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