PERNEM
When Chief Minister Pramod Sawant recently visited Ugvem, Mopa and Korgao in Pernem, his purpose was not only to inspect projects and take stock of the damage to farmers.
The chief minister was also on a mission to take stock of the political damage by many unhappy BJP workers and to pacify them.
Sawant appealed to the disgruntled BJP workers to keep aside their differences and support Deputy Chief Minister and Pernem MLA Babu Ajgaonkar.
Several BJP workers and supporters have been upset since the 2017 assembly elections when then MGP candidate Babu Ajgaonkar had defeated BJP candidate Rajendra Arlekar in the Pernem constituency.
Former chief minister late Manohar Parrikar had included MGP in the government and had made Ajgaonkar a minister, with the portfolios of sports and tourism.
Ajgaonkar later joined the BJP in 2019 and many BJP workers were upset that they were not taken into confidence over this development.
The unhappy BJP workers recently gave vent to their anger by working against Ajgaonkar in the ZP elections and as a result, independent candidate Ranganath Kalshavkar defeated the BJP-backed candidate Anant Gadekar by sizeable 1,700-odd votes.
In a bid to pacify the disgruntled party workers, Sawant took part at a corner meeting at the residence of Prof Sudan Barve's in Bhatwadi-Korgao to make peace between party workers and Ajgaonkar.
During the meeting, the chief minister addressed their concerns and queries.
He assured the party workers that Pernem would get preference for many more projects and cited the example of the upcoming Mopa international airport and appealed to them to support Ajgaonkar.
Others present at the meeting included former Korgao sarpanch Pandhari Arolkar, Dasharath Gaude, Krishna Gaude, Pandhari Arolkar and Siddhi Shetye.
