MARGAO
When migrant-inhabited Moti Dongor came crumbling down coupled with a Congress surge in Margao on Tuesday, reducing BJP’s lead in Margao to a mere 1,323 vote, many a question was raised over Congress-turned-BJP MLA Digambar Kamat’s hold over his fiefdom.
A much bigger question is now asked in political circles post-June 4 “ Kamat’s political future in the BJP scheme of things not only over his failure to protect his fort from crumbling, but his inability to get votes for the saffron party in his fiefdom, as well as in Salcete and down South.
Kamat has been BJP’s star campaigner for the South Goa Parliamentary seat months after he returned back to the party fold after defecting from the Congress party along with seven other MLAs. Whether he was given a brief or otherwise, Kamat was the de facto campaign in-charge of South Goa as he hopped from one Assembly segment to another in South Goa to drum up support for Pallavi Dempo’s candidature.
BJP insiders say the party had pinned high hopes on the Congress turncoat, not only to secure a big lead in Margao, but use his influence and goodwill in neighboring Fatorda and Navelim in a bid to neutralize Congress’s vote if not give an outright lead for Pallavi Dempo.
Kamat was also a prominent BJP leader who made his repeated presence in minority dominated areas of Salcete, including Benaulim, Velim, besides Cuncolim, again with the same agenda -- to get the much needed extra votes for the party from the minority stronghold.
As it turned out, however, Kamat barely managed to secure a wafer thin lead in his stronghold Margao, around 1323 vote lead to be precise, while the BJP was left stranded even in Fatorda, Curtorim, Navelim and Cuncolim where the BJP had a sizeable presence.
Future status in the BJP?
Even as the seasoned seven-time Margao MLA is expected to go into an introspection mode to find out the causes behind the results and chart out corrective measures, questions are being raised how he would go about to cement his place in the BJP scheme of things.
It’s an open secret that a section of the BJP leaders perceive him as a threat to their leadership and may use the Lok Sabha poll results to corner him when it comes to the question of Cabinet status.
In fact, it will be around 20 months now since Kamat had led the eight-member team of Congress MLAs into the BJP. The BJP leadership as well as Kamat had since been insisting that his return to the BJP fold was unconditional. With speculations rife that the promised Ministerial berths or a reshuffle may take place post-June 4, questions are raised whether Kamat would fit in the bill considering his Lok Sabha report card when other MLAs may have fared better in the poll.
Ministerial position?
Digambar Kamat with a Ministerial position, sources said, would have gone into the Lok Sabha campaign on a much stronger footing than without Cabinet status. A Cabinet status post-defection, political observers say would have helped the Congress-turned-BJP MLA contain the damage and cater to his voter base, cutting across communities, more so when it was widely expected that his decision to defect would cost him the minority vote, which has been his core voter base in his political career spanning 30-long years.
Political observers recall that Kamat had faced a similar situation, but for a brief period when he had quit the BJP to join the Congress 17 years ago in 2005. In fact, many say when Kamat assumed office as Congress Chief Minister in 2007, the position had helped him to make deep inroads into the BJP voter base when he provided jobs to the unemployed youth, and took control of the situation for full five years by keeping the saffron brigade at bay.
Post-June 4, questions are being raised in political circles whether Kamat will ever get the promised Ministerial berth, more so when he has no report card to present to the party leadership after he failed to take the projected lead in his fiefdom and in the neighbouring segments bordering Margao.
This question assumes significance and comes against the backdrop of the fact that many a BJP MLA is likely to stake claim for a Ministerial berth based on their report card in the just concluded Lok Sabha polls.
Political observers, however, say the party leadership will have to take a call on the question of bestowing Cabinet status on Kamat keeping in mind the 2027 Assembly election, due in two years and half from now, more so when the INDIA Alliance bloc is gearing up to take on the ruling dispensation head on in the Assembly polls.
