the goan I network
MARGAO
Cuncolkars are closely watching the political developments unfolding in the 12-member Cuncolim Municipal Council with no trust motions literally being the order of the day over the last couple of months.
The instability in the civic body has raised questions amongst the citizens on the development front, with City Fathers virtually switching sides at the drop of the hat “ a situation unheard in the history of the Civic body since its inception 30 years ago.
Otherwise, consider this. Chairperson Lavita Mascarenhas has faced a total of three no confidence motions since her election as Chairperson of the Cuncolim body post 2015 election. Of the three no trust motions, Lavita has survived one, while another was withdrawn by the signatories and she is bracing up to face the third motion on March 30.
On the other hand, Lavita’s vice-Chairperson Mario Moraes faced a no confidence motion a week ago and he survived the motion by 6-5 vote. While Lavita was one of the signatory to the no trust motion against Mario, the vice-chairperson had signed all the three motions tabled against the Chairperson.
That’s not all. There’s no love lost between the Chairperson and the Vice-Chairperson. While Mario had lodged a FIR against Lavita’s husband for assault, the Chairperson in turn had lodged a counter FIR against her deputy for defamatory statements.
The Vice-Chairperson and the former Chief Officer Pandarinath Naik were also engaged in a battle of sorts last year, with the Chief Officer lodging as many as two FIRs against Mario.
While the seven-member Joaquim Alemao group is now a divided house, the opposition five-member BJP-backed group in the civic body is no better. The five-member BJP group were all signatories to the no-confidence motion against Lavita before two members of the Joaquim group Mario Moraes and Shashank Desai withdrew their signatures. However, when Mario and his group tabled the second motion against the CMC Chairperson, the five-member backed BJP group came to her rescue to defeat the motion.
Interestingly, two of the seven signatories to the latest no confidence motion against the CMC Chairperson are BJP-backed Councilors, indicating the BJP-backed group too has been hit by dissensions.
