Considering the recent developments which throw a big question mark over the Opposition’s intention to unitedly take on the might of the Saffron brigade in the state, a probable alliance of like-minded-parties in Goa is drawing enough scepticism to discourage even the staunchest of believers in last-minute miracles which have lodged the most unlikeliest of political dispensations at the helm. 

The political dramas unfolding in the state with each passing day has caught the most seasoned of campaigners unawares. 

While it remains amply evident that it is not individual parties but a strong coalition that can hope to dislodge the BJP from the position of power that it occupies in Goa, the wastefulness of having so many political parties sprouting up regularly in the tiny coastal state is not lost on the electorate. 

Besides, with all of them confident about making a mark in Goa during the upcoming state assembly elections, the large array of choices available by way of candidates nominated for the polls by various parties, not to speak of the independents, could spring quite a few surprise results. 

In such a case, just as much as the Opposition, the ruling-BJP too is naturally bound to feel the need for alliances to cement its place at the top. 

‘Going solo’ hence becomes politically too much of a risk in the present order of things in the state’s effervescent electoral scenario. 

Moreover, if disenchantment within the party ranks is the prime reason for members seeking ‘greener pastures’ outside, let us not forget that the Saffron party in Goa too is riddled with its own share of similar problems. 

It is amidst such a situation that the All India Trinamool Congress party has firmly resolved not to have any truck with other political dispensations in the state while singling out BJP as the principal target in the coming assembly elections. 

While it is difficult to comment on the TMC’s spirited retorts at this stage, it is the manner in which the Congress in the state has been abandoned by its ‘leaders of long-standing’ that has further decimated it. 

No doubt it is on an overdrive infusing fresh blood into the organization as a part of its revitalizing process. But how combat-ready does it make the Congress for the ensuing elections!        

No other party but the Congress in Goa seems to have the ‘disgruntlement’ factor playing such a decisive role in the, by now, regular exodus of its prominent members desiring to chart a different course in the state’s politics. 

Hence the TMC’s foray into local politics does not come as a big surprise! 

However, with disenchantment within its ranks having splintered the party many times over in the past few decades, Congress has apparently not found it worthwhile to assess the situation and go into a damage control mode. 

Having lost quite a few stalwarts over the years who have gone on to play distinctive roles in national politics, the Congress today faces the prospects of engaging with its own, albeit ‘ex-cadres’, in electoral battles across the country. 

But then that has been the way politics has been played out in the country over the ages. 

However, with politics in the country having moved along predictable paths all these years, it will always be lamented that the electorate has not been given much to choose from. 

Will the arrival of Trinamool Congress in the state’s political horizon afford Goans a chance to redeem their electoral options! 

With almost all the major national parties having a palpable presence in the state now, Goans could well look forward to a slew of fresh faces contesting the coming elections. 

Nonetheless, the keenness shown by most of the political dispensations in the state to field ‘tried-and-tested’ figures, but who are known to have made famous entries and equally spectacular exits at will to and from various parties, is unbelievable. 

There has never been a dearth of good candidates who can vie to be people’s representatives in the state, but the ‘winnability’ factor is what puts the ‘big guns’ in an unassailable position. 

But with almost all parties believing in such machinations during election time, this has become a general trend. Hence the Congress begrudging TMC’s Goa entry is just a formal reaction and does not warrant any extra attention. 

For a party that intends making an electoral debut in the state, the TMC will quite naturally encroach into opposition turf to take advantage of a situation that has dissent written all over it. 

But what ‘novelty’ exactly will the TMC bring along with it!   

However, with the Chief Minister, in his own characteristic style, asserting that every sitting MLA cannot be assured a ticket, fresh ‘permutations and combinations’ could evolve with the ‘side-liners’ in the present coalition looking out for options. 

Hence the observation that while the Chief Minister has been busy garnering public goodwill for his government during his whirlwind tours of various constituencies, it is the manner in which some of his colleagues in the cabinet have chosen to criticise their own government over inconsistencies and irregularities that were however more than obvious during their last term itself in the ruling dispensation. 

It is as if the censure of their government over its oversight on a number of matters would absolve them of their ‘inactivity’ and ‘dis-connect’ with the people during the past five years!  

Nevertheless, one cannot deny the contention that the much-sought achche din for the populace inevitably comes at the fag-end of any government’s term, especially the one that comes with the announcement or the anticipation of elections any time soon. 

With the assembly polls in Goa barely months away, it is time for the locals to rejoice, presumably so, considering the sops and goodies coming their way - and especially so with so many political dispensations trying to woo them!