With just five days to go for the May 5 polling, the political battle for control of the civic bodies in Ponda and Sanquelim is heating up. Campaigning is peaking and the 70-odd candidates in the fray to become councillors in the two civic bodies are stretching themselves to the hilt, reaching out to voters door-to-door, holding corner meetings and enlisting the support of local influencers.
But the focus of attention in the twin civic elections is on the two BJP bigwigs from Sanquelim and Ponda -- Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and his cabinet colleague Agriculture Minister Ravi Naik.
The battle has become a matter of prestige as both Sawant and Naik have their political stature and electoral muscle bruised a bit owing to the close finishes they both had at the 2022 assembly elections. It would therefore be imperative for the Sawant-Naik duo to grab control of their respective civic bodies and restore their political footing when the counting of votes is taken up and the results declared on May 7.
Ravi stakes his
all in Ponda
Ravi Naik is no pushover in Ponda, rooted to the ground and wily in the game of electoral politics. But the man who rose from being a motor-cycle pilot, running a popular bar in the town to holding office as Chief Minister of the State, has lost much of his political sheen as he aged over the last four decades.
Naik told The Goan that the BJP will sweep the Ponda civic poll on May 5. He has already stolen a march, with two candidates owing allegiance to his BJP-supported panel already elected without a contest. In ward no 7 a former chairperson and a long-time BJP karyakarta, Vishwanath Dalvi, was declared elected to garner his third term after his lone rival Bharat Purohit withdrew his papers.
Also in ward no 13 Vidhya Punalekar, who was reportedly part of the Ponda Rising group floated by Ravi Naik's rival Ketan Bhatikar and the MGP, won uncontested after another BJP karyakarta Darshan Shyam Naik was made to withdraw. Vidhya then jumped ship and formally joined the BJP.
With two in their kitty already, the Naik-BJP panel has a head start. The battle on May 5 will now be for 13 wards, and it would be interesting to see if Naik can repeat his electoral magic to retain hold of the Ponda municipal council, especially with him fielding both his sons -- current chairperson Ritesh Naik and Roy. Five years ago too, the Naik siblings had also contested. While Ritesh had managed to win, Roy who is older and has had his share of controversy in his father's political shadow, had lost.
Traditional Ravi, Dhavalikar
rivalry to the fore
They may both be wielding power and seats in the Pramod Sawant cabinet, but on Ponda taluka's political turf, there's no love lost between Ravi Naik and Power Minister Ramkrishna (Sudin) Dhavalikar. The May 5 Ponda civic polls will be no exception and the duo is expected to lock horns down to the wire.
Many had thought that since the MGP is a part of the BJP-led coalition, the party would step in to reign in the MGP and have some sort of a truck. But it was not to be and it will indeed be a direct contest between Ravi's BJP-backed panel and the one floated by Sudin's MGP. The latter is led on the ground by Ketan Bhatikar, who had an impressive outing at last year's Assembly poll falling short of Ravi by just 77 votes.
The Congress which has its Assembly candidate Rajesh Verenkar as its frontman, is also in the fray but they are yet to formally announce their list of candidates.
Responding to a query on the perceived dichotomy of his party sharing power in the State cabinet but crossing swords with the BJP in the Ponda civic election, Dhavalikar told The Goan that it is wrong to say that the MGP has floated a panel.
"The municipal elections are not fought on party lines. However, our Ponda karyakatas have come forward to contest in 12 of the 13 wards and we are backing them in whatever way we can," Dhavalikar said.
On their prospects, Dhavalikar responded with a tinge of diplomacy. He said: "It is up to the people of Ponda town, who are highly educated and politically aware, to take a call on what has to be done."
BJP State president Sadanand Shet Tanavade too categorically said there will be no alliance or understanding with anyone.
"We will fight the Ponda as well as Sanquelim civic election on our own," Tanavade said, adding that the party is taking the election seriously and has appointed Rajya Sabha MP Vinay Tendulkar to oversee it on behalf of the party in Ponda.
He justified the position by claiming that the alliance with MGP is a post-poll arrangement and sought to argue that there was no need for an alliance since the BJP had won both the assembly seats -- Ponda and Sanquelim.
Tanavade himself will take charge of Sanquelim on behalf of the party and he expressed confidence that they will win both municipalities.
Ravi's sons-rising
The attention of political observers, meanwhile, will be on the fate of both Ravi's sons. Five years ago, the veteran, who had just made a comeback by winning the Ponda seat handsomely on the Congress ticket, suffered an embarrassment when his older son Roy failed to win. His younger son, Ritesh, who is the current chairperson, however, saved face for the Naiks by winning his ward.
This time, Roy faces four other candidates in his ward no 1 and he will have to wait until May 7 to see if he makes it this time. It is the ward which has the largest number of candidates in the fray -- five.
Ritesh on the other hand is contesting from ward V, where he faces a triangular battle.
There will be straight one-on-one fights in three wards -- II, IX and XV. And in five other wards V, VIII, X, XI and XIV, the contest will be triangular.
Some wards of Ponda will also see interesting tussles. In Ward IV there are five candidates in the fray including two outgoing councillors -- Venkatesh Naik and his sister-in-law Chandrakala Naik. The two are fighting against each other.
In yet another interesting battle, sitting councillor Virendra Dhavalikar takes on Rajesh Talaulikar, who is the husband of another sitting councillor Geetali Talaulikar.
Young and fresh
faces enter fray
Some young and fresh faces have entered the fray and are attempting to challenge the hegemony of some of the veterans over Ponda's civic politics.
These fresh candidates are putting in their all, holding door-to-door campaigns, organising small corner meetings and tapping local influencers for support.
Viraj Sapre, a social worker fairly well known in the town is one such fresh face who has thrown his hat in the ring.
Power play, delimitation
advantage
While the battle is seemingly not a cakewalk and the civic poll could throw up a result as close as what it was in the 2022 assembly election in both Ponda and Sanquelim, the ruling BJP and the Sawant-Ravi duo have wielded one distinct advantage -- delimitation of wards.
It is no secret in Goa that local political satraps, especially when in power, pull the strings to demarcate wards and the reservation patterns to their distinct advantage. It is almost like in the case of cricket where the cricket control board of the home side virtually dictates to the curator to prepare either a turning wicket or a pacy green top as per the strengths of the team.
In the case of Ponda and Sanquelim, it is unlikely that the Sawant-Ravi duo haven't played their hand at it. In fact, in both cases, the delimitation of certain wards was even challenged before the Bombay High Court. It is another matter that the challenge did not eventually hold water.
But like they say, it's all fair in love and war, so it is in the Ponda and Sanquelim civic polls. And while one citizen complained that these elections will be just a "waste of money and time" with those in the fray, mostly wives and sons of incumbents and career politicians.
"There is little in it for the common citizen as they all make money at the cost of the exchequer and the honest taxpayer," the citizen rued indicating there are no stakes for people like him.
For the politicians and their kith and kin in the fray, however, including Sawant and Ravi, it will be another week of suspense until the results are known on May 7 and they learn whether they had consolidated their positions in their home grounds or not.
