People Business

The rift in the Socialist People’s Party (SNP) appears a lot deeper than it initially seemed.  The assemblies of the community councils of the newly formed People’s Socialist Party (NSS), held in several cities in Montenegro, demonstrated this most clearly, especially the assembly held in Kolasin where the former SNP leader, Momir Bulatovic, appeared.  The representatives of both factions do not acknowledge any rifts.  The election campaign will in all likelihood pass in competition over which of these two parties is “really for Yugoslavia,” but also in a battle to see which one of the two Bulatovics is stronger – Momir or Prederag.

There are simply no arguments in support of a coalition between these two political parties, for while before it was said that the two Bulatovics (Momir and Prderag) have divided Montenegro, now it is crystal clear that they also fathered a rift in the Bulatovic Clan, one of the biggest clans in Montenegro.  Well, now Bulatovic is against Bulatovic.  Kolasin and its neighborhood, the seat of the Bulatovics, is precisely the place Momir Bulatovic felt impelled to come to and to explain everything that he did in order to avoid a rift in the SNP.  “I offered everything except my life and my personal dignity.  That is something that could not be taken from me even by those more powerful than these three vice-presidents (Predrag Bulatovic, Zoran Zizic and Srdjan Bozovic, ed.).

Momir Bulatovic explained how in Kolasin these three SNP vice-presidents were telling him one thing and doing something completely different behind his back, and that he is shocked “by the fact that people change from one hour to the next, how the closest associates, fighters for truth and justice, will change because of a promised ambassadorial post, and expected ministerial seat or an apartments some place, trampling on everything that they held in high esteem until that point.”

SLEW OF ACCUSATIONS:  Momir Bulatovic did not pass up the opportunity to say that he lived honorably in Belgrade and that he returned to Montenegro without having stolen anything or having amassed any wealth, that he showed all this publicly and invited all of his associates to do the same, but that they have not done so, except for demonstrating willingness to break apart Yugoslavia.  He also pointed to the forming of the Yugoslav Coalition which won in Herceg Novi and which included the Serbian Radicals and JUL.  “Now an SNP minister is slapping the leader of the Radicals in the Federal Parliament, which is a disgrace for Yugoslavia.”  They are not battling for Yugoslavia is the message delivered by Momir Bulatovic who is denying the pretensions of his until-yesterday closest associates.  They are not capable of that, for they did not permit democratic processes to take their course within the party, and now the most important thing for them is who will get a position which is paid $3,500 to $5000 dollars per month, thus trampling on the founding principles of the SNP.  Bulatovic told his sympathizers that he wishes to become a member of the NSS, but does not want to take active part in party work, for he does not need to hold any office, nor expects any financial or material gain, but that he wants to make himself available to this political party.

However, it is nearly certain that Momir Bulatovic is pulling all the strings in this newly formed political party which for now is being led only by former members of the SNP which were part of Momir’s faction of that party, while Momir Bulatovic is the actual leader of the NSS.  NSS leadership is sharply criticizing the SNP leadership and includes many Bulatovics from Kolasin, as well as Bulatovics from Serbia where they are in charge of various Montenegrin societies.

Resident of Kolasin, Milan Bulatovic, stated with heavy words that the SNP leadership was “vying for positions – Milo Djukanovic needs two seats in the United Nations, while they need ten.”  Branko Bulatovic, from Podgorica, stated that six members of the Bulatovic clan in the SNP leadership were against the holding of a party congress, at which Momir Bulatovic was due to be stripped of his party reigns.  At every meeting of the NSS, each mention of one of the present leaders of the SNP results in a burst of whistling and derision, while such extreme reaction is rare at the mention of anyone in the present government of Montenegro.

All in all, the NSS will in all likelihood direct all its invective against Prederag Bulatovic and his closest associates, while Djukanovic and his people will be second in line for their invective.  By contrast with Momir Bulatovic and his supporters, Predrag Bulatovic, Zizic and Bozovic are not reacting similarly for now, or more precisely, they are ignoring the taunting from the other side, even though it is clear that they are alarmed by the number of members who are leaving the SNP on a daily basis to join the other camp.  Admittedly, Predrag Bulatovic warned that the creation of a new party could result in the weakening of the front for a unified Yugoslavia.  A little later, in a party press release, it was suggested that the NSS is a gathering ground for Radicals and JUL supporters, with that being the extent of SNP reaction.  Who will form the Yugoslav Block is a big question now, for the People’s Party is ready for a coalition with the SNP, but not with Momir’s party, while Seselj denied all possibility of a coalition with the SNP.  It is also not unlikely that two Yugoslav coalitions might appear in Montenegro, and will work more for winning voters of the former Yugoslav Block.

QUESTION OF OWNERSHIP:  However, it is clear that Momir Bulatovic will never forgive his vice-presidents and his associates who he took with him to the Federal Government, and who abandoned him.  Several upcoming months will inevitably be witness to ownership disputes, for the party seat of the SNP, party property Jumedija Mont and the daily DAN, the founder of a radio with the same name, are all listed under Dusko Jovanovic, Momir Bulatoivc’s closest associate, with funds for all this coming from Belgrade, through Momir Bulatoivc’s lobbying work.  For now, Dusko Jovanovic and his assistants appropriated all electronic equipment from the “shack”, the nickname for the SNP headquarters, and took them all to another shack, several hundred feet down the street.  Predrag Bulatovic admits that the party enterprise and the media lean toward the NSS, but he does not wish to speak about how this property settlement will be concluded, and whether it will at all be raised, given that Dusko Jovanovic is legally the owner of everything.

In any case, the political duel between the two Bulatovics is unavoidable.  The conclusion can only be expected after the April elections, when their two parties will begin mutual accusations for the now certain election defeat.  Those better informed say that Momir Bulatovic is awaiting Predrag precisely at that juncture, and that is why an NSS leader will not be chosen until after the election.  However, until that time, Momir and Predrag will argue publicly about which one of them did the great service to Milo Djukanvoic and the Montenegrin Block, which is now calmly awaiting a certain election victory.