VASCO
Defections by MLAs from one political party to another is not new in Goa but it takes greater effort to persuade voters who have been traditional voters of one party to switch to another party.
This has been the case in the minority dominated Wards 7, 8 and 9 of Baina who have traditionally supported Congress and mindful of this party loyalty, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant made a fervent appeal to supporters of Mormugao MLA to ditch the ‘hand’ symbol and to switch to the ‘lotus’ symbol.
In fact, Sawant had to remind supporters of Amonkar time and again during a largely attended public meeting in Baina on Wednesday, which was attended by Mormugao MLA Sankalp Amonkar, BJP candidate Pallavi Dempo and others, that their former Congress MLA was now firmly with the BJP.
If speaking about this switch of loyalty was not enough, the CM went even further and asked the people to chant slogans along with him in favour of the BJP and even switch on the torch lights on their mobile phones in support of the BJP.
And there was more. At one time during his speech, Sawant even showed the people the ‘lotus’ symbol on his shawl to remind them of the BJP symbol in Baina.
It was unusual for the chief minister to ramp up efforts to dispel any confusion among the voters stemming MLA Sankalp Amonkar’s long-standing association with the Congress, particularly in the stronghold of Baina, where residents have traditionally supported both Amonkar and the Congress.
Sawant reminded voters that Amonkar was now with the BJP and urged them not to vote for the ‘hand’ symbol, after mistakenly associating it with Amonkar’s previous affiliations. “Baina, which consists of three municipal wards, has long been a stronghold of Amonkar, and he is keen about the well-being of the people from Wards 7, 8 and 9,” said Sawant.
“He has assured many times that 80 per cent of the voting will be in favour of the BJP, but I am concerned because Amonkar was in the Congress and you people have been voting for the ‘hand’, the symbol of Congress, all these years.”
“I want to remind that Amonkar has now joined the BJP for the well-being of his people and development of Mormugao constituency and his symbol is ‘lotus’. I want to reiterate it again and again because many people may say that we voted for Sankalp after pressing the button with the ‘hand’ symbol on the EVM by mistake due to his previous affiliation with the Congress.”
“This should not even happen by mistake because every vote is important for the MP elections and in the next three years, Amonkar will win Mormugao constituency on the BJP ticket.”
