BJP-Congress-BJP: Digambar Kamat's journey in Goa politics
India Today
On Wednesday, the Congress in the coastal state collapsed as eight of its 11 MLAs joined the BJP and Digambar Kamat is the most senior of them.
It was 1994 when the BJP won four seats in the Goa assembly elections. Three of the winners went on to make an everlasting impacting impact on Goa’s politics. Apart from Shripad Naik, who is now a minister in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet, the other two - Manohar Parrikar and Digambar Kamat - have had an interesting past between them.
On Wednesday, the Congress in the coastal state collapsed as eight of its 11 MLAs joined the BJP. Former Chief Minister of Goa and veteran politician Digambar Kamat is the most senior of them.
Although Kamat had contested his first election from his stronghold Margao in 1989 on a Congress ticket and lost, he rose in Goa politics only after joining the BJP. Along with his close friend and a fellow saraswat Brahmin Manohar Parrikar, Kamat was instrumental in building the BJP in Goa. By 1999, the BJP’s tally of MLAs in Goa had risen to 10 from four just five years ago.
In 2002, the BJP got to taste power for the first time in the coastal state.
Also Read: | Congress drops former Goa chief minister Digambar Kamat from top party panel
A young and dynamic IIT graduate, Manohar Parrikar, got the opportunity to lead the state as its chief minister. It is believed that it was here that the seeds of discomfort between him and Kamat were sown.
In 2005, Babush Monseratte, Micky Pacheco and others staged a coup against Parrikar. The man who led the coup was Digambar Kamat.
