the goan I networkPANAJIFor those who think that Manohar Parrikar stands head and shoulders above all other leaders in the state, think again. Because Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar is catching up and the two are separated by a measly two percentage points. A survey conducted by Prudent“Department of Management Studies, Goa University, however, showed that Goa is also facing a leadership crisis with 41 percent of the families interviewed unable to pick a leader from the given list. The question asked was: Who is your preferred choice for chief minister? And the answers provided turned conventional wisdom on its head. While Parrikar found favour with 12 per cent of the familes interviewed, Parsekar was not far behind with 10 per cent, a sign that he is gaining recognition as a leader in his own right. The surprise third choice was Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai who got a score of eight percent, a recognition of his leadership skills despite being an independent MLA. The real challenge for him, though, is to retain a seat that is proving to be unsafe, thanks to a disunited opposition. Vishwajit Rane was behind Sardesai with five per cent of the votes while former chief minister Digambar Kamat was pushed to the end with two percentage points, a setback for the Congress. The name of Congress State president, Luizinho Faleiro, who will lead the party in the 2017 elections, did not feature in the list of probable chief ministers. More importantly, MGP leader Sudin Dhavalikar was also not considered as a State level leaders as his influence was restricted to only three constituencies. On the performance of the Opposition the general consensus was that the independent candidates did a better job than the Congress. Over 52 per cent of the families interviewed said leadership in the opposition was provided by independent candidates while 27.7 percent of those interviewed said the Congress as an issue for the upcoming elections. In fact casinos and communalism were rated as more important than MoI. The regional plan, coconut tree and special status found no resonance with the electorate.
CM rating: Parsekar catching up with Parrikar
Though unsafe this time around, Independent MLA Vijai Sardesai is surprisingly the third choice of votersrnSet to lead Congress in 2017 elections, Luizinho Faleiro does not feature in the list of probable Chief MinistersrnIn a major setback for the Congress, former Chief Minister Digambar Kamat is pushed to the end with 2 percentage points
