The suspense over son Utpal carrying forward Manohar Parrikar’s legacy and contesting the Panaji bypoll ended with the Bharatiya Janata Party leadership opting for their tried and tested candidate Siddharth Kuncalienkar. Understandably, BJP’s decision made sense, especially at a time when the government is precariously balanced with its numbers.
However, the run-up to BJP’s decision speaks of an anguish that lay within. Putting Parrikar’s legacy to test could have hit the party very badly and a loss would have been seen virtually as a rejection. Moreover, the party was unsure how much of sympathy traction Utpal would get. A similar experiment in Mapusa was not very convincing and it was left up to Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and Satish Dhond to boost up Joshua D’Souza’s to keep pace with Congress candidate
Sudhir Kandolkar.
The huge chorus of legacy versus dynasty that played in the background was staring in BJP’s face since the party has been stoutly shouting over rooftops against dynastic politics of the Congress. A letter doing its rounds in April which the party subsequently discarded as ‘fake’ brought to the fore undercurrents against legacy. These were first signs of internal divisions over the legacy issue. Utpal is a fresh face carrying an elusive sympathy wave with him. The man not only bears close resemblance to his father, but his persona too has stark similarities. In such a scenario, the BJP had to make a calculated choice.
In putting its faith in Siddharth, the BJP made it clear that it is not in a position to take a gamble at this juncture. Utpal may be riding high on the sympathy factor, but he is still a novice in the political arena and completely new to the intricacies of electoral politics. On the other hand, Siddharth has been instrumental in many a victories in Panaji and has a rapport with the 22,482-strong electorate. Not only has he won twice in Panaji, once defeating Babush by a close margin, he was Parrikar’s man Friday and even steered CCP campaigns.
With Babush Monserrate bracing up for a straight fight, another factor influencing BJP’s decision is Goa Suraksha Manch candidate Subhash Velingkar who is likely to eat into BJP votes. Siddharth, who is well-connected in Panaji, will be best suited to offset the damage caused by GSM.
On the flip side, Siddharth will have a lot of explaining to do on issues which his government has failed so far. Not only will he left to fight the wave of resentment against his government, but there are issues like garbage, traffic management, smart city project and poor roads that candidates will use in their campaign pitch. The countdown has begun for what is expected to be yet another tight bypoll contest.
