GAURANG PRABHU/ Goemkarponn
MARGAO: If one goes by the mood in Salcete constituencies, the mood against the ruling party BJP is not encouraging; of course, it has never been in the past except for 2012, when late Manohar Parrikar went to every house to appease the voters.
But as the 2022 battle draws closer, not all is well for BJP in Salscete.
Though Salcete – a Catholic-dominated taluka, never stood behind BJP in the past, the saffron-brigade tried all the tricks and techniques to attract the voters from congress.
BJP has three MLAs out of 8 constituencies who joined the government halfway, jumping from congress.
With elections just six months away, out of three, only one Cuncolim MLA, Clafasio Dias, is ready to contest on BJP ticket rest two, that is, Wilfred D’sa is expected to contest independent or any other party while Filip Neri Rodrigues has dodged this question and has maintained full secrecy.
Sources, however, suggest Neri will mostly contest as Independent
Out of 8 constituencies of Salcete, BJP is eyeing four seats and has started their work in all four: Cuncolim, Navelim, Margao & Fatorda, but in all constituencies, they have a difference of opinion in leadership at constituency level.
Cuncolim – Clafasio has joined BJP from Congress and soon adopted the ideology of BJP.
At present, the party is going in full swing in Cuncolim with party work. Clafasio has also taken the old party karykartas into confidence. Still, the major problem is another karyakarta Gangaram (Sudesh) Bhise, claiming a Cuncolim ticket and has also started his office in the constituency.
Sources said that Gangaram is very close to Power minister Nilesh Cabral.
Navelim – BJP has developed sizeable votes in Navelim from the last 10 years. Ulhas Tuyekar, who represents the party in the Zilla elections, is working from the Davorlim seat. The minority leader of Congress, Urfan Mulla, into BJP, will boost the BJP vote bank in Navelim. The main issue is there are many small groups formed inside Navelim BJP Mandal.
Vice President Paresh Dessai is claiming for party ticket and has the backing of many; simultaneously, the newcomer Urfan Mulla is also trying his best by playing his minority card to get a Navelim ticket. Another group backing ZP Ulhas Tuyenkar and Satyavijay Naik are also trying for a Navelim ticket, so all is not well in Navelim the party has to bring all the groups together to win the seat.
Margao: After the exit of Digamber Kamat from BJP into Congress, the BJP party have never tasted victory in the constituency as Kamat has made his base very, very strong in the capital city.
BJP has tried two candidates who failed miserably Sharmad Raiturkar has lost three elections, and Rupesh Mahatme has lost one election to Kamat.
In fact, there is also no unity in Margao BJP. It was a major setback to BJP when their panel lost severely in the recently held municipality election, and their leader Sharmad Raiturkar also lost to a young and new candidate in Comba part, which is considered a strong base of BJP.
Ketan Kurtarkar, the youth BJP leader, successfully retained his seat, where his sister Sushanta Kurtarkar filed nomination due to ladies’ reservation of seats.
Now BJP high command has two options one, to give the ticket to young and new faces like Ketan, who is popular in youth and doing quite a good job in Margao or to field Ghanshyam Shirodakar, the veteran councillor, who after elections left Digmber Kamat camp.
Fatorda: In 2001, BJP first won in Fatorda, taking advantage of the division of votes, and from that time, Damodar Naik was the party’s candidate in the constituency.
After representing for two terms, Damu lost the battle in 2012 and again in 2017 to Vijay Sardessai. Though BJP, over the years, has done well in the Fatorda constituency to retain and increase the vote bank, many of the party leaders have left and supported the opposition. One group from Fatorda BJP is trying all possible things for Damu’s defeat in the constituency.
Curtorim: Margao councillor Arthur D’Silva had tried his luck in Curtorim on BJP ticket but was not up to mark. After delimitation, Curtorim has nearly 5 to 6 thousand Hindu votes, but that is not enough to win the seat. Right now, BJP Mandal is doing all activities. Anthony Barbosa, South Goa ST morcha Vice-President, is trying for a party ticket in the constituency.
Nuvem: BJP does not have much hope in Nuvem. Though they have an MLA, he had jumped from Congress to BJP.
The party also does not have much interest in the constituency, and the party’s work is going on very slowly.
The MLA Wilfred D’Sa is unwilling to contest the elections on BJP ticket and has already said that he will be mostly contesting the upcoming elections as independent or any other party as per the demand of his workers.
Velim: BJP has nearly 3 thousand plus votes in Velim, but it’s significantly fewer votes. The present MLA also had joined BJP from Congress, but there is no hope that he will contest the elections on BJP tickets as the sentiments in the constituency is against BJP.
Benaulim: The BJP has nothing to do with Benaulim. Party have in the past contested the elections but got very fewer votes.