Goa health minister's outburst at doctor adds to CM Sawant's troubles amid power tussles in state BJP

The Print

a day ago

Two weeks earlier, Goa Art and Culture Minister Govind Gaude raised corruption charges against the Sawant-led tribal welfare department, triggering a political storm and later backtracking by saying that he was commenting on the department officials, not the CM.
Since assuming office for a second term, the CM Sawant-led government has been facing the heat from power tussles within the state unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Vishwajit Rane, who has had a history of rows with the CM, is the latest BJP leader to have created a troubling situation for Sawant.
New Delhi: After Goa Health Minister Vishwajit Rane was caught on camera publicly reprimanding a senior doctor last week, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has attempted to stop a state-wide doctors' strike by overruling a suspension order Rane had called for against the senior doctor.
The latest controversy arose when Rane visited the Goa Medical College, where he chided the chief medical officer, Dr Rudresh Kuttikar, for what the minister perceived as misbehaviour with a patient and ordered his immediate suspension.
A viral video shows Rane shouting: 'Kick him out … you will not be here with your bloody ego and learn to control your tongue. You are a doctor. Put your hand out of your pocket when you are standing before me. I usually do not lose my cool, but you have to behave. Remove the mask [that doctors wear] when I am talking. Give your explanation when an investigation starts. Then, I will consider them, or you will be suspended for two years.'
Rane then asked the medical superintendent to issue a suspension order against the CMO. Soon after, the video went viral, and in the absence of the doctor's version of what had happened, it created a political storm. Goa Indian Medical Association (IMA) condemned Rane and threatened to start a strike, and CM Sawant had to step in to limit the damage.
Overruling the suspension order, CM Sawant Sunday said, 'I reviewed the issue at Goa Medical College and held discussions with the health minister. I want to assure the people of Goa that Dr Rudresh Kuttikar does not face a suspension.'
IMA has demanded a public apology from Rane. However, after Rane apologised, IMA termed it as a 'studio apology', calling for the minister to publicly apologise in the hospital casualty department—the same place where he had rebuked the CMO.
Amid the doctors protesting against Rane, CM Sawant held a meeting with the Goa Association of Resident Doctors (GARD) Monday night, when he agreed to accept nine demands of GARD and the Goa Medical College Doctors' Union.
Speaking to ThePrint, BJP state president Damodar Naik told ThePrint, 'The minister has made an apology, and the chief minister has made efforts to listen to the doctors' demands, resolve the crisis, and accept most of their demands. Doctors should be respected; there is no doubt about that.'
In his latest move, CM Sawant visited the Goa Medical College Tuesday to make peace with the agitating doctors. His assurances made them call off their planned strike, but they are still expecting the health minister to communicate a formal apology for his behaviour.
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Vishwajit Rane vs CM Sawant
It is not the first time that Vishwajit Rane has caused an embarrassing moment for Chief Minister Pramod Sawant. Rane, the son of former chief minister Pratap Singh Rane and five-time MLA, has been a chief ministerial aspirant since joining the BJP.
During COVID-19, when thousands of people died in Goa due to oxygen shortage, CM Sawant took a dig at Rane, saying the crisis was due to the mismanagement of the Goa Medical College. Rane hit back at the chief minister, saying he was misguided and demanded a high court probe into the crisis.
Rane also clashed with the CM in a cabinet meeting in May 2021 after Pramod Sawant pointed out oxygen mismanagement. Rane left the meeting midway and did not attend meetings on oxygen supply for several weeks.
The Goa High Court reprimanded CM Sawant and Rane during hearings on public interest litigations regarding the pandemic, saying, 'This is not the time for politics.'
Again, after the 2022 assembly poll results, Rane's wife, Deviya Rane, also an MLA from Poriem, told the media, 'Her husband, Vishwajit, is ready to take over as CM as he has 15 years of experience.'
Rane, who holds a crucial portfolio, visited Delhi and met party leaders to promote his candidature, as well. The BJP high command, however, did not favour him, and Pramod Sawant became CM for the second time.
Rane defected from Congress in 2017 when he also engineered defections of two Congress MLAs to the BJP, to cushion the party in the 40-member Goa assembly.
After CM Manohar Parrikar died, Rane hoped to get the top post. However, while the BJP leadership considered his name, it selected Pramod Sawant, a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh leader, who had grown within the BJP cadre, for the top post.
One BJP MLA told ThePrint: 'The problem of the BJP in Goa is that only a handful of MLAs come from an original RSS ideological background—unlike in other states. Most are from Congress and other parties. They see themselves as chief minister claimants and do not have what is required to follow BJP-like discipline. They also no longer have a figure, such as Parrikar, who commanded widespread respect in Goa BJP. That is why they undermine Pramod Sawant, who keeps a relatively low profile.'
BJP vs BJP in Goa
Vishwajit and Gaude, however, are not the only ministers to have troubled CM Sawant. His government has been facing opposition from within the party and reeling under intra-party rivalries since before his second tenure started.
Earlier, at an event, Gaude said: 'A huge amount of taxpayers' money is allotted to the tribal welfare department. When it fails to organise any programmes efficiently, it shows a lack of government control over the administration.' CM Sawant threatened action against Gaude to dissuade him from further making such statements.
Former minister and senior leader Pandurang Madkaikar, this year, told the media, 'All ministers are minting money in Goa. I had to pay between Rs 15 lakh and Rs 20 lakh to a minister for a small task. It is not corruption but loot.' Launching an attack on him, his party colleague, Goa Industries Minister Mauvin Godinho, claimed that Madkaikar was making up the corruption charges.
In January this year, former MLA Farrel Furtado brought allegations of a 'cash-for-job scam' in the state, and the Enforcement Directorate is currently investigating the same.
Former PWD minister and MLA Nilesh Cabral, in the same month, criticised CM Sawant for stalled projects in Curchorem constituency, where Cabral is the MLA.
In March this year, when party general secretary (organisation) B.L. Santhosh visited Goa, some MLAs, including Gaude, complained to him about BJP ministers allegedly indulging in corruption.
A month before the 2022 assembly elections, Satya Pal Malik, former Goa Governor from November 2019 to August 2020, said his removal from Goa before the party sent him to Meghalaya had come because of his corruption charges against the CM Sawant-led government.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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