Talking Point
Both Parulekar and Salgaonkar confident of winning Saligao
The Goan Network
PANAJI
Most observers were saying that Saligao’s electoral battle was a tough one between Goa Forward Party’s Jayesh Salgaonkar and sitting BJP MLA Dilip Parulekar. However, both Salgaonkar and Parulekar seemed to be confident of winning the election from Saligao by a huge margin.
Salgaonkar said, “It is going to be Goa Forward Party in Saligao all the way. We are going to win by nothing less than 2,500 votes.”
Parulekar seemed even more optimistic about his victory, as he said, “I will definitely win from Saligao with a margin of more than 5,000 votes.”
When asked why he was so hopeful of winning by a huge margin, Parulekar replied, “I am confident of winning because I did a lot of development work in the constituency. For example, I got Saligao circle and beautification of foot-paths done. We even got LED lights installed in that stretch from Porvorim to Sangolda, which falls under Saligao constituency.”
He continued, “The work on two football grounds, one in Pilerne and another in Nerul, is going on. Similarly, construction of two panchayat-ghars is going on.”
But, Salgaonkar didn’t seem to agree on the development of Saligao with Parulekar. Salgaonkar said, “Apart from Saligao circle, development has not happened in the constituency. Parulekar could not do much for Saligao despite being the tourism minister.”
Salgaonkar also mentioned that people who had approached Parulekar for help complained of his uncooperative attitude.
In most parts, Saligao doesn’t have water, power and road problems; however, unemployment is an issue across the constituency. That being the reason, people often approach the MLA for jobs. Whoever wins the election, expectations will be that the new MLA will help people in getting employment.
Some parts of Saligao even have basic problems. For example, water comes once in two days in Verem causing much inconvenience to the residents. This might have resulted in an anti-incumbency wave against Parulekar.
But, Hindus in some parts of Saligao are believed to be supporters of BJP, which will go in Parulekar’s favour. In Salgaonkar’s favour is his clean image, which seems to have gone down really well with the people of Saligao.
Now that both the candidates have claimed that they will win, all eyes are on March 11 to know who actually wins this contest.
