OLD GOA
If St Cruz voters taught defector Tony a lesson, a similar story unfolded in St Andre as four-time MLA Francisco Silveira was humbled by Revolutionary Goans’ newcomer Viresh Borkar who won by a slender margin of 76 votes.
By toppling heavyweight Silveira (5,319), Borkar (5,395) won the only Assembly seat for RG in its very first attempt.
Though this constituency was expected to be a Congress stronghold, the failure of the party to field a popular candidate was one of the reasons why the party fared poorly with its candidate Anthony Lino Fernandes (2695) coming a distant third.
And RG was able to capitalize on the same as its supporters from the UK influenced the Congress voters to switch allegiance and vote for Borkar.
The youth in the constituency stood behind Borkar like a rock as they were influenced by RG’s fight for the future of Goa and Goans.
Borkar’s able leadership and his ability to take on the might of Silveira by highlighting various issues plaguing the constituency also helped RG open its account in the State.
