MARGAO
Days after he was drafted by the Party Executive Committee to ensure the saffron flag flies atop the Margao Municipal Council, BJP State President Sadanand Tanavade descended on Goa Forward Party Chief Vijai Sardesai’s backyard to boost the morale of the foot soldiers and oversee the candidate selection process.
Tanavade interacted with the party general secretary and former two-time Fatorda MLA Damu Naik and the block committee members before going into a huddle with two-time councillor and former MMC Chairperson Arthur D’Silva in Fatorda a day ago.
The local BJP leadership made no secret of Tanavade’s visit to Fatorda, with both Damu and Arthur attributing the state president’s visit to give his stamp of approval for the selection of candidates in the 11 wards of Fatorda and the three municipal wards falling in Curtorim constituency.
“There was absolutely no problem in the selection of candidates for the ensuing polls for the 11 wards falling in Fatorda. In fact, the candidate selection exercise turned out to be a smooth affair based on consultation with the booth committee members,” Damu said.
Tanavade, sources said, addressed the party block cadre, motivating them to gear up for the ensuing battle for the Margao municipal election. His message to the block members was clear, gear up for the battle of the ballots and put their energy and time to get the party-backed candidates elected.
His exercise of interacting with former MMC Chairperson Arthur D’Silva, who will be the party-backed candidate, assumes significance given that the two-time councillor will be contesting in ward 5, which was held by the Goa Forward-backed councillor Peter Fernandes in the outgoing council.
Given that the Goa Forward Chief Vijai Sardesai has already announced the candidature of party Fatorda block president Sujay Lotllikar to retain the seat, election for the ward 5 has assumed significance and will be the cynosure of all eyes in the run-up to the election scheduled late March.
Sources in the ruling party pointed out that the party’s executive panel has drafted Tanavade to boost the morale of the party workers in both Fatorda and Margao and to ensure the party flag flies high atop the MMC building.
The decision to draft Tanavade to oversee the election in both Fatorda and Margao assumes further significance given that these two Assembly seats are being represented by Goa Forward Chief Vijai Sardesai and Leader of the Opposition Digambar Kamat respectively.
Sources informed that the BJP leadership has made elections for the Margao municipality as a matter of prestige, not just to wrest the civic body from the opposition, but to engage both Sardesai and Kamat in their own fiefdom, given that the duo has turned out to be bitter critics against the government headed by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant.
