MARGAO
As the three key players brace up for a fortnight-long hectic campaign to woo the electorate in the battle of the ballot for the South Goa seat, one question that’s repeatedly doing the rounds in political circles is “ how would the crucial Scheduled Tribes, spread across the South Goa Lok Sabha constituency, vote in the May 7 election?
With the ST vote pegged over 50,000 in South Goa out of the six lakh electorate, the BJP, Congress and the Revolutionary Goans Party (RGP) have set eyes on these votes, spread across the talukas of Quepem, Sanguem, Canacona, Ponda, Salcete and Mormugao. Take note, the ST vote is not only concentrated in the hinterland talukas of Quepem, Canacona, Sanguem and Ponda, but in the Catholic areas of Mormugao and Salcete too.
Attribute it to the contentious issue of political reservations for the Scheduled Tribes in the Goa Legislative Assembly, the three major political players seemed leaving nothing to chance to wean the tribals towards their respective candidates.
Otherwise, consider this. Armed with the Bill approved by the Union Cabinet to provide political reservations to the ST community in Goa, the BJP is bracing up to go all out to pocket a major slice of the ST votes.
The Congress, on the other hand, is out to expose the ruling party over its failure and inordinate delay in providing the Constitutional rights of the ST community for political reservations.
Taking on both the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress in the battle to make inroads into the ST votes is Goa’s nascent political party, the Revolutionary Goans Party (RGP) which has heralded its entry into the Lok Sabha poll arena.
RGP candidate Rupert Pereira has been pointblank in blaming what he termed as the double engine governments of both the BJP and the Congress for the two-decade delay in realising the demand for political reservations for the ST community.
With the battle lines finally drawn, political observers said the BJP is expected to go all out to retain the ST votes in the hinterland talukas. On the other hand, the Congress would be keen to maintain its stranglehold over the minority dominated areas of Salcete and Mormugao, which plays host to a large section of the ST community in the Assembly segments of Cortalim, Nuvem, Curtorim, Navelim, Cuncolim, Fatorda and Velim.
The main opposition party, sources say, has a task cut out to ensure that the ST votes do not get split between the three main players. For, the Revolutionary Goans Party, is making a determined bid to make inroads into the ST belt, spanning over Salcete and Quepem. In fact, ground reports suggests that the RGP has covered a lot of ground, right from candidate Rupert Pereira’s home ground Raia in Curtorim Assembly segment, besides the villages in the Assembly segments of Velim, Navelim and Cortalim.
Congress party South Goa Election Coordinator, Quepem MLA Altone D’Costa said the Congress will pocket a major chunk of the ST votes across Salcete and in the hinterland talukas. “The ST community had stood behind me for my success in the 2022 Assembly polls. The same groups are not only working in Quepem Assembly segments, but in the other segments in the talukas of Quepem, Canacona and Sanguem,” Altone said.
ST leaders divided, lend support to political parties of their choice
