MARGAO
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant in particular and the BJP poll managers in general will have a task cut out “ how to contain the Congress free run in the three Catholic dominated Assembly segments of Nuvem, Benaulim and Velim in the coming Lok Sabha polls.
Take note, these three segments together had given a vote lead of 30,000 out of the 50,000 vote margin scored by the Congress in Salcete in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
The Chief Minister has made repeated presence in the Nuvem Assembly segment with Cong-turned-BJP MLA and Salcete lone Minister Alexio Sequeira in tow. That the government is working to a plan is evident by the fact that post-Alexio’s entry into the BJP, the Chief Minister has sanctioned underground cabling in the two villages of Majorda and Betalbatim, besides 5,000 overhead water tanks to water starved households. That’s not all. The government has resolved the over-decades old issue of regularization of electricity department employees hailing from the constituency.
On his part, Sequeira has been making fervent pleas to Nuvemkars to give a lead for the BJP in the coming polls so that he can with pride knock the Chief Minister’s doors with public grievances. That he arranged a government-sponsored special train to Vailankani is an attempt by the heavyweight to create feel good factor amongst his constituents.
But, will these measures help the BJP to garner votes in the minority-Nuvem, which had all along given huge and unassailable leads to the Congress election after election? Well, the game plan seemed simple “ if not an outright win, somehow reduce the vote margin of the Congress in Nuvem, besides Benaulim and Velim so as to keep the BJP in good stead in the ultimate analysis.
