MAPUSA
An interesting battle is on cards in Tivim with two heavyweights “ Nilkanth Halarnkar and Kiran Kandolkar “ once again battling it out in a new avatar.
Former Congressman Nilkanth Halarnkar is contesting on a BJP ticket while Kavita Kandolkar, wife of former BJP MLA Kiran Kandolkar, is the candidate on the Trinamool Congress label.
The Tivim constituency had seen a very interesting contest among the candidates in 2017 assembly polls, wherein the then Congress candidate Nilkanth Halarnkar could manage to sail through by defeating then BJP’s Kiran Kandolkar with a narrow margin of 795 votes.
Even this time, the constituency is all set for a keenly watched contest between BJP’s Halarnkar and TMC’s Kandolkar.
The other candidates in the fray are Aman Lotlikar of Congress, Uday Salkar of AAP, Manoj Parab of RGP, Godfrey D’Lima of NCP and Swapnesh Sherlekar of Goencho Swabhiman Party.
Development or lack of it is the key issue in the constituency. Many residents claim that the MLA switched sides for development but has failed to get any projects worth its salt in Tivim.
The ruling MLA, Nilkanth Halarnkar has claimed to have resolved water, power and most road issues in the constituency besides helping maximum people during the Covid crisis.
He claimed that he brought a new higher secondary in the constituency and laid a new water pipeline to augment the water supply.
These claims have been strongly opposed by his rival candidates, who maintain that there has been no development whatsoever.
Kavita Kandolkar of TMC said, “There has been zero development in Tivim in the last five years. Even the roads are the same which were done during my husband Kiran Kandolkar’s term in 2012. There has been no change and the voters are still longing for basic amenities.”
A Tivim resident, Robert Colaco, said: “The crucial unemployment issue has been left to fester as most of the youth have failed to get government jobs. Secondly, the garbage management has gone for a toss in the village.”
Another resident of Assonora, Sidhesh Pednekar said that the local MLA has failed to bring any signature project in the constituency this time around.
“In 2007, Halarnkar had brought a big project like the Assonora bus-stand in the constituency. This time there is not a single developmental work that can be viewed with the naked eye. Secondly, we have around 30 to 35 houses in this area but not a single youth has got a government job. People are not happy,” Pednekar said.
He said Manoj Parab, a leader of the Revolutionary Goans Party is also getting good traction among the electorate, especially the youngsters in the constituency, and the contest could see a nail-biting finish.
