After over four long months of waiting, five of those eight defectors have finally been doled out some unpalatable crumbs of office by the BJP. In desperation they had to grudgingly accept whatever fell off their new BJP master’s table, with no choice whatsoever.
While defecting, Santa Cruz MLA Rodolfo Fernandes was promised the Kadamba Transport Corporation and even started making a list of drivers, mechanics and conductors to hire. But that dream was punctured. Instead, he has been accommodated at the insignificant Goa Human Resource Development Corporation which would enable him to only engage some security guards. After having been promised a cabinet berth the Mormugao MLA Sankalp Amonkar had to eat the humble pie being dispatched to the Bal Bhavan. Even donning that RSS outfit recently was of no solace to this turncoat. The Cumbarjua MLA and one of the dons in illegal Mining Rajesh Faldessai had to suck his thumb being rehabilitated at the Goa Rehabilitation Board. Kedar Naik and Delilah Lobo are also stuck with those ornamental posts without Power as Vice- Chairperson at the Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation (GSIDC) and the Entertainment Society of Goa respectively.
The remaining three Alexio Sequeira, Digambar Kamat and Michael Lobo are still hoping against hope that they will be able to grab their promised cabinet berths which may be a far cry.
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant is still holding on to three very lucrative positions as Chairman of GSIDC, Goa Mineral Development Corporation and the Investment Promotion & Facilitation Board. Giving away these three plum lucrative positions to the remaining trio of defectors may be a long way out. But will Pramod Sawant part with these hefty cash cows?
Regrettably, Politics today is a sleazy investment and not a vocation where these and other defectors have shown us that they are even prepared to eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table. The crores that the defectors were reportedly all paid may have to be their only consolation.
