AGNELO PEREIRA
MAPUSA
The victory of Joshua D’Souza in the by-election, albeit by a truncated margin, shows that BJP continues to maintain its stranglehold in Mapusa.
With this victory, Joshua, son of late Mapusa MLA, Francisco D’Souza managed to silence his critics and get an opportunity to carry forward his father’s legacy in Mapusa, which is virtually the capital of Bardez.
His triumph also ensures that he will be the youngest candidate to enter into the precincts of the hallowed House.&nbs
MAPUSA
The victory of Joshua D’Souza in the by-election, albeit by a truncated margin, shows that BJP continues to maintain its stranglehold in Mapusa.
With this victory, Joshua, son of late Mapusa MLA, Francisco D’Souza managed to silence his critics and get an opportunity to carry forward his father’s legacy in Mapusa, which is virtually the capital of Bardez.
His triumph also ensures that he will be the youngest candidate to enter into the precincts of the hallowed House.&nbs
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Joshua’s win will ensure BJP’s flag continues to fly high in Mapusa, but the drop in the margin of victory will surely be analyzed by the party in the days to come.
The former Mapusa MLA had set a precedent of winning by a big margin and in fact won the 2012 assembly polls by a record margin of over 10,000 votes.
Although late D’Souza’s margin was reduced to 6,000 odd votes in 2017, Joshua’s margin of 1,000 odd votes on May 23 is a far cry from his father’s legacy.
The reasons could vary from discontent among a section of the Mapusa BJP mandal to some councillors lending tacit support to the rival Congress candidate.
It was an open secret that a section of the Mapusa BJP mandal worked against the official nominee of the party in Mapusa and BJP seniors had to work hard to convince them to fall in line.
Joshua, however, credited his victory to the BJP leadership and the people of Mapusa.
“My victory was possible due to unstinted efforts of Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, BJP organizing secretary Satish Dhond, fellow councillors, Mapusa BJP mandal and the voters of Mapusa,” D’Souza said.
Both Joshua and Sudhir Kandolkar contested for the first time for the Mapusa assembly seat in the by-election.
The two are also councillors in the Mapusa civic body, but Kandolkar besides being three-time chairperson, has been in politics for almost a quarter of
a century.
He was a close confidant of the late Mapusa MLA as well and knows the city inside out.
By bagging 10,016 votes, Kandolkar has shown that he has tremendous goodwill in the city.
Excellent organizational set up of the BJP and the lack of it in Congress could be one deciding factor which could have gone against Kandolkar.
The hard work put up by the BJP leadership coupled with the resources also tilted the scales against the Congress candidate.
Kandolkar was unabashed in his opinion that the BJP used government machinery to turn the tide in its favour. “During the last days of the campaign, the chief minister and the government machinery got involved which helped the BJP candidate,” Kandolkar said.
The other five candidates in the fray including the nominees of Aam Aadmi Party and the Goa Suraksha Manch failed to impress in the by-election.
Joshua’s win will ensure BJP’s flag continues to fly high in Mapusa, but the drop in the margin of victory will surely be analyzed by the party in the days to come.
The former Mapusa MLA had set a precedent of winning by a big margin and in fact won the 2012 assembly polls by a record margin of over 10,000 votes.
Although late D’Souza’s margin was reduced to 6,000 odd votes in 2017, Joshua’s margin of 1,000 odd votes on May 23 is a far cry from his father’s legacy.
The reasons could vary from discontent among a section of the Mapusa BJP mandal to some councillors lending tacit support to the rival Congress candidate.
It was an open secret that a section of the Mapusa BJP mandal worked against the official nominee of the party in Mapusa and BJP seniors had to work hard to convince them to fall in line.
Joshua, however, credited his victory to the BJP leadership and the people of Mapusa.
“My victory was possible due to unstinted efforts of Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, BJP organizing secretary Satish Dhond, fellow councillors, Mapusa BJP mandal and the voters of Mapusa,” D’Souza said.
Both Joshua and Sudhir Kandolkar contested for the first time for the Mapusa assembly seat in the by-election.
The two are also councillors in the Mapusa civic body, but Kandolkar besides being three-time chairperson, has been in politics for almost a quarter of
a century.
He was a close confidant of the late Mapusa MLA as well and knows the city inside out.
By bagging 10,016 votes, Kandolkar has shown that he has tremendous goodwill in the city.
Excellent organizational set up of the BJP and the lack of it in Congress could be one deciding factor which could have gone against Kandolkar.
The hard work put up by the BJP leadership coupled with the resources also tilted the scales against the Congress candidate.
Kandolkar was unabashed in his opinion that the BJP used government machinery to turn the tide in its favour. “During the last days of the campaign, the chief minister and the government machinery got involved which helped the BJP candidate,” Kandolkar said.
The other five candidates in the fray including the nominees of Aam Aadmi Party and the Goa Suraksha Manch failed to impress in the by-election.
