Alright, alright! Roshi Bhadain did not win the election and, by the looks of it, he has destroyed his political career before he even built it, in an eerie similarity to his once obsessive pet project, Heritage City. Unrepentant about – sadly, perhaps even unaware of? – the untold harm he has contributed to causing the country, he walks out of the political arena just as he walked into it: clueless.

But he did not go empty-handed. As he scurried out of the polling station when the ballot counting ended, defeated, broken and desperately trying to resist the urge to display his legendary arrogance, he had won one of the ultimate bets he had taken before showing his backside in parliament to his former leader: inflicting maximum damage on the MSM. In fact, he managed to inflict infinitely more damage than if he had won the election. Perhaps, he could not even dream of such an achievement himself.

More than giving a golden opportunity to Labour Party Arvin Boolell to waltz into the National Assembly, his head elevated with the number of votes separating him from the next candidate, Bhadain unwittingly dragged a Labour Party that was agonising in the stables, deprived of its war chest, being decimated by court cases, ambitions, disappointment and dissention, and placed it in the home stretch. Energised, seemingly united and confident, the supporters are now ready for a long race against a battered government that is finding it hard to keep its head above water from the continuous corruption and nepotism scandals and a dismal economic performance.

So, as Bhadain starts to lick his wounds, coming to terms with just how deep they are, he can take comfort in the fact that his sworn enemy is not having it easy either. In fact, this is the beginning of endless sleepless nights for the Sun Trust and the start of a series of nightmares that it did everything to avoid. No one but Bhadain could have achieved that! You will recall that when he first threatened to resign, Boolell himself tried to dissuade him from triggering a by-election. The newly elected candidate must now be grateful that the then-MP – drunk on Facebook likes and ambiguous smiles – did not listen to him.

The government will now be on the back foot even more and will have no respite until the next election. We have been thrust into the electoral campaign for the general election. Civil servants – few of whom took the risk of being seen heading to the polling stations on Sunday – will now do what it takes to preserve the privileges they jealously guard – shift their allegiance. So, we are likely to see more and more confidential information about scandals making its way to the newsrooms. More and more fleas will find a new abode. Some rats will start darting off the sinking ship. And more and more Labour supporters – who had been hiding under their beds for fear of being frog-marched to the Line Barracks – will even start praying for a provisional charge to be lodged against them, giving them the opportunity to show their allegiance. Even Rakesh Gooljaury may miraculously recover his memory, in an attempt to find a new way to write off his debts.

So Bhadain may have died politically but the power of destruction that he used against the BAI, Betamax, the offshore sector, hapless citizens, his own colleagues and eventually himself – lives on and will target his worst enemies.

Who says he lost the election? He won it hands down!  

For more views and in-depth analysis of current issues, Weekly magazine (Price: Rs 25) or subscribe to Weekly for Rs110 a month. (Free delivery to your doorstep). Email us on: weekly@lexpress.mu