There are signs that the alliance we saw coming slowly but surely may not be on the cards any more. That the MSM may not be that interested to join forces with the MMM for the next general election after all. Or at least that if the wedding is to go ahead, the dowry to be offered to the MMM will be very low.

First, the Rs50-million lawsuit Pravind Jugnauth has filed against Paul Bérenger for defamation is a clear declaration of war. You don’t sue partners or future partners so close to the wedding date – a time for sweet courtship. 

But more important in this game of bed-swapping is the appointment of Joe Lesjongard as deputy-speaker of the National Assembly. You will have noticed that up until now, no turncoat from the MMM – unlike PMSD’s turncoats – had ever been assigned a position of responsibility. Lesjongard’s nomination has naturally antagonised all the parties the record holder in coat-turning has been a member of but particularly the MMM, his latest big station. 

Equally, if not more telling, is the fact that Lesjongard belongs to a community the MSM had never dreamt of attracting, being the main vote pool of the MMM and the PMSD. Those that the prime minister’s father qualified as ‘demons’ and ‘bagasse’ are now being targeted for a vote through the appointment of someone from their community to a prestigious post in the National Assembly. And never mind the cost. The fact that Bobby Hurreeram was jettisoned like a used tyre after only two sessions as deputy speaker to make room for Lesjongard is no hurdle at all! The prime minister knew perfectly well that the ousted deputy speaker will react by doing what he does best: bootlicking and glorifying his leader even more perhaps in the hope of getting something in the future. With a bunch of docile MPs who cannot believe their luck, there is no line that it is too dangerous to cross. 

Lesjongard’s nomination, you will recall, follows a controversial meeting with the Pentecostal Church, with the promise of digging more into the public kitty to please its members, and the instrumentalisation of the all-too-willing Jocelyn Grégoire by the MBC in a gross and deplorable act of propaganda. 

So money is being splashed around as if there was no tomorrow. The recipe has been tried and tested. Increasing the old-age pension has worked once. They would be stupid not to try it again! That is what Jugnauth has openly promised to do again, appealing to a potential vote-bank of over 200,000 people scattered around the island. You will have also noticed the massive recruitment in the Civil Service which is already groaning under the weight of hefty salaries, pensions, duty-free and passage benefit allowances. This may add a few thousand – particularly Hindu – families to the vote kitty. Top that up with the Muslim members who may have been won over by the seduction game started with the appointment of Ameenah Gurib Fakim as president of the Republic, followed, when that flopped, by the appointment of Fazila Jeewa-Daureeawoo as vice-prime minister when Showkutally Soodhun was made to resign. 

So, the partner that the MSM is relying on right now is the public purse. Economists are already sounding the alarm bells about our public debt which has attained unprecedented levels and our very dangerous reliance on foreign government grants. And, since no one believes in free lunches and Santa any more, what the MSM is relying on may well lead the country closer to its ruin. 

To what extent the frog will be allowed to inflate itself without popping will depend on the degree of greed and self-interest of the voters. Us!

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