The scramble for the Congress ticket for the South Goa Lok Sabha byelection, the latest jostling for Cabinet berths and the rumblings within a disgruntled Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) are making the going all the more bumpy for Goa Chief Minister Digambar Kamat.

Mr Kamat who has been in power a little over three months has used the Congress’ aam admi slogan to kick off a slew of people-oriented measures to cut bureaucratic red tape and make the administration more accessible to the public.

Pressure
At the ground level though, managing the coalition has put the Chief Minister Digambar Kamat under tremendous pressure.

The Save Goa Front which provides crucial support to the Congress-led government recently stoked more resentment with the demand for the Congress LS nomination for SGF leader Churchill Alemao’s daughter.
The byelection has been set for October 30.

Mr Alemao who is in Delhi to meet with Congress leaders said he expected the party to keep to its end of the bargain. “The Lok Sabha seat is part of the agreement for SGF support to the Congress,” he told this newspaper.
Tight race
A half dozen Congressmen, including the Goa PCC president Francisco Sardinha and former chief minister Luizinho Faleiro are also in the race for the Lok Sabha byelection nomination.

Mr Alemao’s move to impose his daughter’s candidature on the Congress is being strongly resisted at the local level.

Running a government with 16 Congress MLAs, 3 Nationalist Congress Party  members, 2 Save Goa Front, 1 independent and 1 unattached member has been no easy task for Kamat, specially with new political rumours floating around almost on a daily basis.

Denying the latest round of speculation that a Cabinet reshuffle was on the cards to accommodate some more disgruntled elements, Kamat said he was not proposing any such move.
The Nationalist Congress Party which has two ministers and one parliamentary secretary has also made public its resentment over the appointment of Congress MLA Shyam Satardekar as chairman of the Goa Tourism Development Corporation.

The post was held by a NCP member till recently.