MARGAO
Around two decades after former BJP leader and Chief Minister late Manohar Parrikar’s Mission Salcete juggernaut rolled into minority heartland in a bid to woo the Catholics towards the saffron brigade, the BJP is back in Salcete again.
Parrikar’s successor, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant may have abandoned Mission Salcete in the party’s scheme of things, but Salcete seemed no less important for the BJP in the ensuing polls. The party has unveiled candidates for seven out of the eight seats at stake in Salcete, with State president Sadanand Tanavade putting to rest speculations that the party may back an independent for the Curtorim seat.
A glance at the BJP’s list of candidates for Salcete shows that the party is working as per a game plan. The party has nominated Congress-turned-BJP MLA Clafacio Dias for the Cuncolim seat, not just as a reward for defecting from the Congress in 2019, but knowing well that BJP’s sizeable presence in the Cuncolim Municipal area and Clafacio’s connect with the people in the villages will keep the party in good stead.
While party’s decision to nominate Damu Naik was on expected lines given that the former two-time MLA had prepared the ground work over the last two years to cross swords with arch rival Vijai Sardesai.
Nomination of Dy Chief Minister, Manohar Ajgaonkar may be a gamble on the party of the party leadership. While the party was opposed to Ajgaonkar’s nomination in the reserved Pernem constituency, sources say Ajgaonkar too accepted the challenge on behalf of the party since he had no other constituency to contest in the ensuing polls.
BJP’s decision to contest the coming polls from Navelim has sent a message loud and clear that the party no longer wants to back independents or support other parties. And, that the BJP has fielded two-time Zilla Panchayat member Ulhas Tuemkar is a clear message that the party is in the fray to win the Navelim seat, hoping to encash on the perceived division of the anti-BJP vote.
The ruling party had initially decided not to contest in the three minority-dominated constituencies of Benaulim, Nuvem and Velim, where the BJP had little or no presence.
In the 2017 Assembly polls, the BJP had drawn a blank in the minority stronghold, with the Congress winning six out of the eight seats at stake, with the remaining two seats going in favour of Goa Forward party and the Nationalist Congress party.
The task before the BJP is simple “ go all out to regain the seats in party’s strongholds of Margao, Fatorda and Cuncolim and wait for split in the anti-BJP vote in Navelim and Curtorim to open an account in these constituencies.
