MARGAO
Welcome to Cuncolim, the home village of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate Elvis Gomes, who is locked in a triangular contest for the South Goa Lok Sabha seat.
Cuncolim has a history of producing well-known freedom fighters, judges and members of Parliament over the years.
Ramakant Angle and Shantaram Naik, hailing from Cuncolim, had both made it to Parliament. The late Shantaram held the distinction of being an MP in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha in his long political innings, having won the North Goa Lok Sabha seat in the 1984 poll.
On paper, the Cuncolim segment has been a stronghold of the Congress over the years, but party candidate Francisco Sardinha cannot afford to ignore the Goa Forward Party and AAP factor with local man Elvis also in the fray if he intends to consolidate his lead in Salcete taluka to regain the seat from the BJP.
The Congress had won the Cuncolim seat in the 2017 Assembly election by a whisker, around 30 votes to be precise. In the 2014 Lok Sabha election, the Congress managed to secure a slender lead of 750 votes against the BJP, which in the ultimate analysis cost the party dearly, with Narendra Sawaikar winning the seat by 32,000-vote margin.
While the Congress, BJP and AAP have been leaving no stone unturned to woo the voters across Cuncolim seeking their support for their respective party candidates, the Goa Forward factor has also come into play, with the Joaquim-Yuri duo playing their cards close to their chest with less than a week to go for the Lok Sabha polls on April 23.
In the 2014 Lok Sabha poll, sitting BJP MP Narendra Sawaikar had polled 8,382 votes in the Cuncolim segment as against 9,132 votes polled by Congress’ Reginaldo Lourenco, with the Congress registering a 750-vote lead against the BJP.
Much water has flown down the river Sal in the last five years, with the Aam Aadmi Party led by Elvis heralding its entry in Cuncolim constituency in the 2017 Assembly poll. Though Elvis lost the election, coming fourth after the Congress, Joaquim Alemao and the BJP, the fact that he had scored 3000-odd votes will come into play in the ensuing election.
With Joaquim Alemao and son Yuri embracing the Goa Forward Party a year ago, the political players cannot afford to ignore the Joaquim factor as well, more so with the Goa Forward still keeping its plan under wraps till date.
When The Goan called up Joaquim Alemao to shed light on his plan for the ensuing election, he merely said that he would discuss the matter with Goa Forward Party chief Vijai Sardesai. Till date, however, neither the Sardesai nor Joaquim has come clear on its stand in the ensuing election, leaving the three main contenders a confused lot.
The contenders are aware that they cannot afford to ignore the Goa Forward-Joaquim factor in the scheme of things.
Amongst the three main contenders, the Congress poll managers know for sure that it has a task cut out to secure a big lead over the BJP as part of its game plan to score big in Salcete taluka in order to dilute BJP’s surge, if any, in the hinterland. And, in the bargain, the Congress will have to grapple with the AAP and GFP factor to keep the BJP at bay.
