BJP State President Tanavade & Satish Dhond caught unawares
CANACONA
Cracks within the newly elected BJP-backed councillors at the Canacona Municipal Council (CMC) has come to the fore, even as other councillors also filed nominations to the posts of chairperson and deputy chairperson on Wednesday.
Two councillors have filed nominations for the chairperson’s post and an equal number for the Vice-chairperson’s post.
On Wednesday, Mastimoll councillor Pandurang (Dhiraj) Naikgaunkar filed his nomination for the post of chairperson and Delem-Mastimoll councillor Supriya Dessai filed her nomination to contest for the post of deputy chairperson.
Earlier on Tuesday, Ourem-Palolem councillor Simon Rebello and Kindlem councillor Amita Pagi had filed
nominations for the post of chairperson and vice-chairperson, respectively.
Incidentally, while Rebello and six other councillors insist they are loyal to the BJP and Deputy Speaker and Canacona MLA Isidore Fernandes, Dhiraj Naikgaunkar claimed they had been asked by BJP high command to file their nominations.
“All were invited to meet Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and party leaders in Panaji on Tuesday, but only five councillors met them,” said Naikgaunkar.
“The chief minister and party leaders, including BJP State President Sadanand Tanavade and Satish Dhond, sought to know why there was a division when all 12 councillors had met them soon after the results.”
“The leaders then specifically told us to file our nominations for both the posts as BJP councillors. Hence, we filed the nominations on Wednesday,” he added.
According to sources in the seven-member group of councillors led by Rebello, they are in contact with the Chief Minister, Canacona MLA and BJP leaders and are confident of winning the contest.
The filing of nominations by two different councillors for both posts has sparked off hectic efforts to get the rival factions to resolve their differences and to have a unanimous BJP-backed council.
