the goan I network
MAPUSA
Will the BJP take action against its former MLA from Tivim for fielding candidates in the Zilla Panchayat polls or will it play the waiting game?
For record, the saffron party appears to be in no hurry in taking action against the former rebel legislator, Kiran Kandolkar who has gone against the party and fielded his wife and a close aide in two ZP constituencies in Bardez.
The former BJP MLA has fielded his wife Kavita Kandolkar from Colvale and his aide Sirsaim Sarpanch, Anand Tembkar from Sirsaim constituency.
Twenty-four hours after the entire nomination process came to an end, and the ex-BJP MLA failed to convince his wife and close aide to withdraw from the fray, the party which harps on party discipline has failed to even issue a show cause notice to its leader, leave alone expel him, for indulging in anti-party activities.
Meanwhile, Kavita Kandolkar has hit the campaign trail and begun door-to-door visits in Colvale and is distributing campaign leaflets.
Incidentally, the leaflet has the photograph of former chief minister Manohar Parrikar prominently superimposed on it, besides displaying the photographs of Kavita and her husband Kiran Kandolkar.
Sources informed that Kavita has hit a sweet spot among the voters and has been getting more than good response from the electorate.
According to the neo-BJP MLA, Nilkant Halarnkar the party knows the best and would leave the decision on the former MLA to the senior party leaders.
“They make take some action against him after some days. My immediate focus is to campaign for the party candidates,” Halarnkar said.
A source in the BJP hierarchy disclosed that the party appeared to be playing the waiting game in the case of Kiran Kandolkar.
“In any case if Kavita Kandolkar wins she will support the BJP. So it’s a win-win situation for the party,” the leader said.
Interestingly, the party managed to convince two of its rebel candidates form Siolim and Anjuna to withdraw from the fray on the day of the withdrawal.
However, no such effort was made in case of the two rebel candidates from Tivim.
Kandolkar, tactfully, refused to blame the BJP for the candidate selection debacle but chose to hit out at Tivim MLA, Nilkant Halarnkar for trying to harass the original karyakartas.
Attempts to telephonically contact the State BJP President, Sadanand Tanavde and North Goa BJP District President, Mahanand Asnodkar were unsuccessful.
