MARGAO
The battle lines are drawn to wrest control of the Margao Municipal Council. Billed as a semi-final clash between the ruling dispensation and the challengers ahead of the 2022 Assembly battle, the BJP has drafted the party’s State President Sadanand Shet Tanavade to checkmate Goa Forward Party Chief Vijai Sardesai and Congress and Margao MLA Digambar Kamat.
Tanavade’s agenda in Margao appears clear. He will have to galvanize the party rank and file to ensure that the saffron flag flies atop the MMC building once again, and put the party in a commanding position to challenge both Kamat and Sardesai in 2022.
That’s not all. The contentious coal issue and the three linear projects are all set to dominate the poll campaign, especially in the Fatorda area of the MMC.
That the BJP Executive Committee has drafted none other than the party’s State President indicates the ruling dispensation’s seriousness of winning the municipal polls.
Sources in the BJP informed that Tanavade will take charge of Margao, beginning with the finalization of the party-backed candidates till the elections, indicating that the party is making a determined bid to bounce back in the Margao Municipality after a gap of 20 long years.
Observers say the BJP’s resolve to make an impact in the ensuing civic polls is focused on laying a solid ground for the 2022 electoral battle and corner both Kamat and Sardesai.
BJP General Secretary, Damu Naik, who is expected to head the party’s campaign in Fatorda, made no bones of the fact that the ruling party will go all out to form the Margao Municipal Council. “It’s not that the BJP was not so serious in the 2015 Municipal polls and this time too the party leadership has decided to draft party president Tanavade to oversee the campaign in Margao to ensure an all-out win,” Damu said.
Incidentally, both the BJP and the Goa Forward seem to be raring to take up the contentious coal and three linear projects in the ensuing municipal election. That the ruling party leadership has charged the opposition, including the Goa Forward Chief, for misguiding the people on the controversial issues indicates that the BJP’s agenda is clear: consolidate its voter base.
Interestingly, the resolution adopted by the BJP executive in support of the three linear projects was piloted by Damu Naik, indicating that the party will go all out to drum up support for the projects across the state, including Fatorda and Margao, the areas represented by Sardesai and Kamat respectively.
Not to take things lying down, the Goa Forward has accepted the gauntlet thrown by the BJP on the coal and linear projects. Party woman leader Pooja Naik took on BJP Damu on the coal issue, saying that the BJP leader should first try and get the coal stopped from Goa before raking up the employment issue.
“Our leader Vijai Sardesai has been steadfast in his opposition to coal and the three linear projects. Damu should first speak against coal and then promise to provide jobs,” Pooja said.
It might come as a surprise for many that Sardesai is out to bring the coal issue to the centre stage in Fatorda in the ensuing polls when the BJP is expected to go all out to unite its voter base. Observers say the Goa Forward Chief’s decision may emanate from his anxiety to regain the confidence of his support base, both within Fatorda and South Goa, which shows signs of erosion after the 2017 Assembly election.
