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D'Souza's downfall in civic polls
- Of the 7 candidates in his 'Vasco Progressive Front' panel, only his brother and sitting councillor Pascoal D'Souza got elected
- D'Souza claims he supported 'weak' candidates
- Says BJP engineered ward delimitation to its advantage
- Was not averse to jointly fighting polls with Sankalp Amonkar on party lines as workers would have been antagonised
VASCO
Unperturbed over the dismal performance of his panel at the Mormugao Municipal Council (MMC) elections, NCP State President and former minister, Jose Philip D'Souza, has claimed that BJP had engineered the delimitation of wards to its advantage.
Admitting that he had supported weak candidates, D'Souza has, however, assured that he would not interfere in the council's affairs, and has hoped that the BJP-backed majority panel would provide a stable council to promote development in all 25 wards.
Speaking to 'The Goan', D'Souza was assessing the performance of his panel, after only one councillor “ his brother and sitting councillor Pascoal D'Souza (Ward 17) “ of the seven candidates in his panel got elected in the polls.
“Three months in advance, BJP had decided the delimitation and reservations of the wards. The announcement of the haphazard and reservation of the wards barely 15 days ahead of the council elections not only left us with limited choice, but it also affected some sitting councillors and other aspiring candidates who could not contest from their respective wards,” claimed D'Souza.
D’Souza had floated his own panel 'Vasco Progressive Front' a few days ahead of the MMC polls, and six of his seven candidates lost miserably, either to BJP-backed or independent candidates.
“In fact, I was not in favour of floating a panel and was supporting city-based industrialist Narayan (Nana) Bandekar and his panel. Though I was supporting my brother, other candidates came to me at the last minute for support. I did not want to let them down, and hence, I announced the panel at the last minute,” said D’Souza.
“I knew that except for my brother, the other candidates were weak, but nonetheless, I supported them not to hurt their sentiments,” he added.
He was then asked to justify separate panels fielded by him and Congress leader Sankalp Amonkar, especially since an alliance between the two partners, Congress and NCP, could have posed a stronger challenge to the rival panels.
“Actually, both Amonkar and I were averse to floating party-backed panels. If we had to float the panel jointly, we could have hurt many party workers who wanted to contest the elections. By floating individual panels without party affiliation, we safeguarded the party’s interests,” stated D’Souza.
Taking a dig at the two BJP MLAs from the port town, D'Souza said: “The BJP legislators from Mormugao and Vasco created the delimitation and reservation as per their choice, but despite securing the wards, they were not confidant of getting their candidates elected. As a result, they were forced to seek the services of top BJP leaders, including Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar, South Goa MP Narendra Savoikar, other ministers and MLAs to campaign for their candidates. This something that the NCP-Congress government never did during its term in power.”
Asked if the MMC poll results has been a setback to him, especially ahead of the 2017 Assembly polls, D'Souza replied: “I am not worried about my loss and I will not also interfere in the council. But I hope that with the absolute majority, the BJP-backed panel will provide a stable council with one chairperson for the full term and carry out development works in all 25 wards of the council,” added D’Souza.
