Goa was Monday readying for a Congress government, a day after election results broke the stalemate by giving a decisive four out of five seats to the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) alliance.

The Congress legislature party meets Monday to elect its leader, an uneasy task in a political grouping seen more as an alliance of local caste and community networks and filled with many leaders who have dominated this coastal state's political fortunes for a quarter-century and more.

The Congress returns to power after half-a-decade in political wilderness -- since October 1999 when it was ousted from power by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

From then on, the BJP's Manohar Parrikar-led government stayed on, weathering multiple challenges - winning support from smaller parties or Congress legislators, and dissolving the Goa assembly prematurely in one case to stave off an impending revolt against it in 2002.

There are indications that Goa will now have two deputy chief ministers, a possible attempt to ensure that the Congress government doesn't again get toppled due to the over-ambitiousness of its leaders.

All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary in-charge of Goa Margaret Alva has promised "stable governance" from the Congress and steps to avoid the "mistakes of the past".

Grim-faced BJP leaders said they have decided to work as a "constructive opposition" till the 2007 elections.

But the determination with which IIT-educated metallurgical engineer Manohar Parrikar stayed on in power for four-and-a-half years and another year through proxy (in a government of Congress defectors) led to speculation about other "possibilities", including a BJP alliance with non-Congress leaders, minor yet significant players in the assembly.

Goa has 39 members in its 40-seat assembly. One MLA stands disqualified. Of the 39, the Congress has 18 and three more - two NCP and one Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP)- support it. This gives it 21 members. The BJP has 17 of its own MLAs and one of the United Goans Democratic Party (UGDP).

BJP's strength has been further eroded by a high court ruling last month that disqualified two of its MLAs for holding an "office of profit" during the 2002 elections, but giving them a month's time to appeal.

UGDP legislator Matanhy Saldanha, supporting the BJP, has also repeatedly announced that it would be supporting the Congress.

Goa -- a former Portuguese colony -- saw the end of colonial rule only in 1961. Its first elections were held in 1963. For nearly 16 years, community and caste-divided local politics were dominated by the two local parties, MGP and United Goans Party.

The Congress first won in Goa only in 1980. It ruled continuously for a decade under Pratapsing Rane, who returned for stints in the 1990s of more controversial rule. Troubled by dissidents, Rane managed to offer stability and fairly good governance in the eighties though.

Since March 1990, Goa's governments have been collapsing like ninepins, in part because of growth of small groupings and splinter factions that have played a big role in the local assembly.

In 1994, the BJP first entered the state assembly. It marginalized the earlier dominant soft Hindutva MGP, and then wrecked the Congress mainly through defections from its over-ambitious leaders, many of whom have publicly regretted their political shifts.

In its bid to return to power, the Congress surfed on its good showing elsewhere and buoyed its hopes locally as a number of key BJP allies started ditching that party in Goa since January this year.

In a calculated, if politically costly, gambit, all five MLAs who ditched the BJP were given the ticket to contest. Four out of five won, the only losing candidate being Isidore Fernandes of Poinguinim, who contested from that constituency as a Congress, BJP and then Congress candidate -- all in the space of barely three years!

Former BJP heavyweights now back in the Congress, and other allies, are bound to extract their pound of flesh. When asked what he would ask for, NCP leader and three-time former Congress chief minister Wilfred de Souza said bluntly, "Everything!"

Averting crises of over-ambition and fighting the assertive BJP, the Congress has its long job list ready and waiting for it as it embarks on another spell to rule Goa.

Party position in Goa:

  Total seats  40
  Disqualified by Speaker 01
  Current seats  39

  Congress camp
  -------------
  Congress  18
  NCP   02
  MGP   01
  Total   21

  BJP camp
  --------------
  BJP   17
  UGDP    01
  Total    18