MARGAO
The battle lines are drawn again to wrest control over the Margao Municipal Council.
The fate of the newly-elected Goa Forward-backed Margao Municipal Chairperson Ganashyam Shirodkar will be decided on September 23, exactly a week after he made it to the top civic post by defeating BJP-backed candidate Damu Shirodkar by a comfortable margin of 15-10 votes.
Director of Municipal Administration Gurudas Pilarnekar on Monday convened a special meeting of the Council, moments after the 15-member group of BJP-backed councillors tabled a no confidence motion against the Margao civic chief.
The DMA’s notice has convened a special meeting of the Council on September 23 at 11 am to discuss the notice of no confidence motion against Shirodkar.
In a move intended to send a message loud and clear that the BJP councillors have buried their hatchet after the party’s shock defeat in the election for the post of MMC chairperson, the no confidence motion has been signed by all the 15 BJP-backed councillors in the 25-member civic body.
A delegation of councillors led by MMC vice-Chairperson Deepali Sawal, Mahesh Amonkar, Camilo Barretto, Shweta Lotlikar, Shagun Naik and others descended in the office of the Director of Municipal
Administration on Monday to submit the no trust motion to the Director, Gurudas Pilarnekar.
The notice stated that the 15 Councilors have expressed their no confidence against the MMC Chairperson, Ganashyam Shirodkar and sought the DMA’s intervention under section 56 of the Goa Municipalities Act for removal of the Chairperson.
The no trust motion from the BJP group was on expected lines after Ganashyam’s victory had left party leadership, including Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, Cong-turned-BJP MLA Digambar Kamat red faced after the party suffered a shock defeat despite enjoying a clear majority in the 25-member house.
That the no trust motion against the Goa Forward-backed MMC Chairperson was imminent had become evident when all the BJP-backed councilors were ferried to the residence of the Chief Minister at Altinho immediately after the shock defeat. That the Cong-turned-BJP Margao MLA Digambar Kamat later accompanied all the party councilors to the Zambaulim temple to swear before Lord Dambab that they had voted for the party candidate, had given clear indications the BJP will immediately bring a no trust motion against the MMC Chairperson.
