MARGAO
The key political players -- current Cuncolim MLA Clafacio Dias and former MLA Joaquim Alemao’s son Yuri -- vying to control the Cuncolim Municipal Council are keeping their cards close to their chest.
Be it the BJP headed by Cuncolim MLA and the Congress group led by the former MLA’s son Yuri, the two camps are playing a different ball game.
The two camps are believed to have shortlisted candidates for the 14 municipal wards, but have shied away from fielding a panel for reasons best known to their respective political leaders.
In fact, both the camps are trying to find out what the rival camp is all about even as the last date of filing of nominations draws to a close on March 4.
Unlike Panaji and Margao, where the BJP leaders have placed the panel of candidates in public domain, the ruling party leadership seems to be hesitant in unveiling the names of party-backed candidates for the Cuncolim civic body.
Incidentally, a couple of BJP candidates, including the brother-in-law of Chief Minister Pramod Sawant have already filed their nomination papers, but as individual members and not on a panel backed by the ruling party.
When The Goan called up Clafacio, he only said the party will announce the party-backed panel at the right time.
Senior BJP leader and former Sotuh Goa MP Narendra Sawaikar said things will be clear soon. Sawaikar has been appointed as the party in-charge to oversee the municipal election in Cuncolim.
It’s still unclear whether the ruling BJP has not yet publicly announced its panel of candidates due to more than two and more candidates vying for the party tickets or simply awaiting the rival Congress camp to announce the candidates.
The father-son duo of former Cuncolim MLA and Minister Joaquim and Yuri Alemao, who were all bracing up till last week to float a panel of candidates, have also failed to announce their candidates to date.
On the contrary, some of the candidates, who have received the backing of the former MLA, have filed their nomination papers on Tuesday, indicating that the Joaquim-Yuri duo is also treading a cautious path over the question of floating a panel.
The Goan understands that the BJP and Congress camp led by the father-son duo are expected to go all out to wrest the Cuncolim Municipal Council ahead of the 2022 electoral battle.
