PANAJI
The passing of former chief minister Ravi Naik and the expected bye-election for the Ponda assembly constituency left vacant has seemingly set the stage for a fierce political contest among next generation politicians.
In the days following his death, while Naik's family and supporters were still be in deep mourning, his son Ritesh's name was already doing the rounds as a potential successor, the cue surprisingly coming from an unlikely quarter -- the Dhavalikar brothers -- who lead the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) with an iron-clad grip.
The public statement of Deepak Dhavalikar, who is MGP president, suggesting that if possible the bye-poll in Ponda be skipped citing the limited time left in the current assembly’s term. Instead, he appealed for a consensus candidate — specifically Ravi Naik’s son, Ritesh Naik— to be elected unanimously leaving Ketan Bhatikar, his own party's leader who missed upsetting Ravi's applecart in the 2022 assembly election by a whisker.
Bhatikar was the runner-up at the 2022 election in Ponda and only 77 votes separated him from Naik who won. Bhatikar has remained politically active since then and was widely expected to be a strong contender in the upcoming bye-election but his party leadership's public statements has left him in the lurch so to say.
Ravi Naik’s political legacy in Ponda is formidable. A veteran leader with deep roots in the constituency, he held the seat multiple times, often defying anti-incumbency and party shifts. With his absence, the seat is now up for grabs.
Meanwhile, despite the sentiments expressed by Dhavalikar and leaders of the Bhandari Samaj which Ravi toweringly led, whether the stepping into his political shoes for his son Ritesh will be seamless or not depends on what decision the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) takes. Already, voices have begun to rise within the party against the publicly called for 'succession' citing the denial of the 'privilege' to Utpal, the son of BJP's unarguably tallest leader in the State, Manohar Parrikar, at the time of the latter's death.
Nonetheless, the late Parrikar himself professed and executed the nomination and subsequent unanimous election of former minister Alina Saldanha in Cortalim at the time of her husband Matanhy Saldanha's death and post-Parrikar era too the party had endorsed the succession by current Deputy Speaker Joshua D'Souza in Mapusa on the death of his father, late Francis D'Souza.
Ponda's electorate, nevertheless, is known for discerning choices, often favouring candidates over party lines. With Naik gone, voter sentiment could possibly shift toward candidates who promise development, transparency, and local engagement with issues like road and power infrastructure, water management, and employment likely to dominate campaign narrative.
Also, beyond the immediate contest, the Ponda bye-election could serve as a bellwether for Goa’s political trajectory going into the 2027 assembly elections.
And, as political parties gear up for the contest, Ponda stands at a crossroads with next generation politicos -- Ritesh, Bhatikar and Verenkar -- set to jostle and redefine its political identity post the Ravi Naik era.
Verenkar: The third contender
Yet another GenX politician in contention for the Ponda seat at the bye-poll will be Rajesh Verenkar, who in the 2022 poll fought on the Congress ticket and wasn't too far behind the late Naik and Bhatikar in terms of margin of votes -- approximately 600 votes separating him from them.
While Naik had polled 7,514 votes and Bhatikar got 7,437, Rajesh's tally was an impressive 6,839 votes. Five years earlier in 2017 too he had contested as an Independent and again polled a respectable 4,500-odd votes. In that 2017 election, Naik had won comfortably polling 9,502 votes.
Interestingly, Rajesh too has a political legacy in Ponda to regain. His father Shivdas Verenkar, a former minister had won the seat two successive times on an MGP ticket in 1989 (when Ravi had been moved to the neighbouring Marcaim seat) and in 1994.
