By Mayabhushan Nagvenkar

Panaji, Aug 15 (IANS): Sarcastic songs, fashioned after RJ Malishka's now viral "Sonu song", appear to have taken centrestage in the Panaji by-poll campaign, where Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar is trying to book a passage to the state assembly.

Parrikar, who was the country's Defence Minister for three years before returning to state politics in March after the elections, now has to deal with the "lyrically lethal" songs that target him for his poor policies, ignoring corruption, casino-lobby appeasement and political U-turns.

The latest "Sonu song" to hit the campaign trail has been crafted by Sidhanath Buyao, a relative of Parrikar, who claims that the five-time Panaji legislator has lost the faith of the state capital's voters.

His song, "Panaji, do you still trust bhai" (Parrikar is locally referred to as bhai) -- shot with the beached casino vessel Lucky 7 in the backdrop -- criticises Parrikar for his support of casinos, political compromise, horse-trading and the like.

"This is an important message to the people of Goa, specially Panaji," says Buyao, who has been campaigning for Parrikar's chief rival, All India Congress Committee Secretary Girish Chodankar, for the August 23 by-poll.

The song received more than 8,000 views on Facebook over the weekend.

While RJ Maliksha's "Sonu song" criticises the Mumbai civic corporation for its poor quality of service, in Goa, a "Monu song" trips on the state's tallest politician, Parrikar.

Coined by Sant Tuyekar and Chandan Narvekar, the song which leads with "Monu where are the students' laptops?", slams Parrikar's BJP-led coalition government for the delay in delivering laptops to Class XI and XII students under the controversial Cyber-age scheme.

The song, which has gone viral on social media, also highlights misgovernance by the current regime.

The first "Sonu song" rip-off in Goa can be credited to the Goa Suraksha Manch, a party mentored by Parrikar's arch-rival and former state chief of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Subhash Velingkar.

The video "Mannu we do not trust you", which had gone viral last month, features workers of the Manch questioning "Mannu" -- a reference to Parrikar -- over his backing of the casino industry.

Goa BJP general secretary Sadanand Shet Tanvade said that the songs are in poor taste.

"These songs are attacking our Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar personally," Tanavde told IANS.

He said that an election campaign can get heated, but the criticism has to be fair. "This is not the level one should stoop to," Tanavde added.

But sarcasm does appear to the flavour of the Panaji by-poll campaign, with the pro-Parrikar camp releasing a sub-titled parody of a scene from the 2004 Adolf Hitler biopic "Downfall", a template which has been popularly used by humourists on social media.

The video, the source of which is unclear, mocks the Congress campaign for the by-poll, ribbing "Giru" (Girish Chodankar) for fighting a losing battle against Parrikar and being poorly prepared.

Thus, it could be a while before the political music comes to an end.