The dust has finally settled on a hotly contested election and the BJP on its own managed to cross the 300-figure mark giving brand Narendra Modi a landslide victory. While the nation chanted NaMo NaMo across the nation, in Goa, the BJP were a disappointed lot having conceded the South Goa seat to Congress. The Shiroda loss will be a bitter pill to swallow for the Dhavalikars and the MGP, because the entire State political drama and the midnight coups revolved around this constituency. But it is the South Goa seat where the Dhavalikars had their revenge.
Sudin Dhavalikar may have lost a small political advantage with Deepak’s loss to Subash Shirodkar at the Shiroda bypoll, but the former PWD minister exacted revenge at the Lok Sabha poll by inflicting the maximum damage in his strongholds. And this proved to be the game-changer for the Congress. A case in point is Madkai, a known bastion of Dhavalikars, which completely swung BJP fortunes reducing their lead drastically from over 11,000 in 2014 to the current 1,200-odd votes. BJP’s counter strategy to compensate this expected slump with votes from other hinterland areas didn’t work and this was a major factor in Narendra Sawaikar’s defeat.
The plus point for the BJP is that it still managed to latch on to a sizeable vote-share from the mining belt. It means all was not lost for the BJP. People still kept their faith in Modi to work out a solution to the mining issue. Look at it the other way, and a vote for BJP in the mining areas could mean these people saw no hope with the Congress.
The second major contributing factor to BJP’s downfall was Salcete which gave a thumping majority to the Congress nominee, neutralizing the AAP vote split. It is here the frustration and rejection of the BJP was seen right through.
While the BJP settles down its number crunching, Fatorda will be one of the constituencies which will be closely assessed. Despite being a home-turf of their key ally Goa Forward, the BJP got negligible contributions in Siolim, Saligao and especially Fatorda. In fact, there is virtually no transfer of vote for Sawaikar in Vijai’s home turf. No wonder Vijai sent an express congratulatory message to PM Narendra Modi tweeting about how this victory is a positive win for development and how he is looking forward to work together and take the State forward.
While the bypoll has gone the BJP way, it appears not all is done and dusted yet. On the sidelines of the bypoll result, the BJP State President Vinay Tendulkar kept harping on two more MLAs joining the saffron party, a statement which even forced veteran Digambar Kamat to react, possibly to pass on a ‘not me’ message to his colleagues in the party. Lest we forget, Digambar’s name figured prominently in party circles when BJP was going through a leadership crisis.
And lastly, the positive bypoll result will obviously not be in Vijai’s comfort zone since every addition to the BJP is only going to reduce the party’s dependence on its allies. And Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has made no bones about it. Remember the old adage “in politics there are no permanent friends or enemies”.
