How could he have walked with eyes open into the trap laid open by Berenger? How can he, a politician with decades of experience, not see that MMM+PMSD, c ene mariaz kont natire which is doomed to failure?
But first things first: Whether you like or hate Ramgoolam, one question must surely have cropped into your mind: What right do Berenger or Duval, leaders of 2 parties on the slippery slope of unpopularity for quite a while now, have to dictate who the PTr should have as leader? What business is it of theirs?
The impertinence of those 2 is quite incredible.
One has been the leader of his own party for almost 52 years, and has led it progressively on that downward slope, even though he will keep telling you that he and his party are pli for que zamai. So many of its front bench have left the MMM for all sorts of reasons that all have one common factor: the leadership of Berenger. No political leader has an ego as gargantuan as the so called 'leader of all leaders'. And it is his ego that has destroyed the party that used to be the favourite of most people in the early seventies.
Berenger has always had 2 major problems: His massive ego and his manic obsession with the crap known as 'scientific communalism' which, to Berenger, can be summarised thus: Zis ene Vaish ki kapav vine Premier Ministre.
Since the early seventies, he has been on the lone journey of feeding that stupid delusion by putting forward a 'Vaish' as the next PM. Now that Bodha has rather opportunistically resigned from the MSM, after years of silence and collusion with the atrocities committed by that party, bingo!
Berenger has discovered the Vaish he dreams about! I don't know about the ordinary members of the MMM, but I am sure many will not be happy with Berenger's cynical plan to present Bodha as the next Prime Minister, simply because he is a Vaish. He surely cannot present him as an ex Senior MSM figure who kept silent when the looting and pillage of our economy was taking place, with or without his active collusion....And I can see supporters of the MMM thinking of Azor Adelaide, Fareed Muttur etc when they are told that the MMM and the PMSD will henceforth sleep together.
Now, the master of scientific communalism ought to know that 2 people cannot fish in a fairly small pond, because the catch will not be that satisfactory.
The MMM, which has downgraded itself from a truly national party backed by Mauritians of all ethnic groups, is now seen as a party supported mostly by those known as the Population General and perhaps some Muslims and Hindus. It has lost its 'ene sel lepep, ene sel nation' badge of honour, and whether the supporters like it or not, the fact remains that it has become the party of Creoles mostly. The PMSD has traditionally been the party of Creoles and Tamils, but most Tamils have now moved on to the MSM.
So, we have 2 parties fighting for the loyalty of one ethnic group mostly and the remnants of the other ethnic groups. Successive results at the last elections show that they can win some seats only in the big cities and none in constituencies 5-14. And even in the big cities, previous results show that the PTr is preeminent in number 2,3, 18, and quite strong in 15 and 16.
Xavier should have asked himself this important question before being conned by Berenger: Can the PMSD win anything without the active support of either the PTr or the MSM, as it has done in previous elections? Xavier would have been an afterthought in history had it not been for alliances with Ramgoolam mostly, and in 2014, SAJ. So to blindly follow Berenger in his latest scientific communalism folly is not only stupid, but also putting his signature to the death warrant of his own political future and that of the PMSD.
As for Roshi Bhadain and Reform, the only reason I can think for his alliance with the 2 'dinosaurs' (as opposed to an alliance with the other 'dinosaur'...) is to win some seats in Beau Bassin/ Rose Hill where he stood as candidate at the last general elections. Logic should have told him that his natural alliance is with the PTr, esp following his successful meetings in Triolet and Rose Belle.
There is no way that a MMM/PMSD/Reform Alliance will win any seats in 5-14, with or without Bodha. In fact, at the last elections, many MMM and Reform candidates lost their deposits in those constituencies.
But there is a good possibility that a PTr/Reform Alliance will sweep the board in 5-14, and win several seats in 1-4 too, as the PTr(and PMSD) did in 2019, and form the next government. Esp if they can convince people like Bruneau Laurette and Percy Yip Tong that this time, there will be vrai sanzman, and the thieves will end up in prison. Pravind Jugnauth is scared to death of a PTr/ PMSD/Reform alliance without the destructive influence of Berenger.
But Jugnauth will welcome an Alliance of MMM/PMSD (or even Reform) with Bodha as leader, because that will split the votes and facilitate the return of the nightmare we all dread: the return of la cuisine.