MARGAO
As the BJP kick-starts its campaign for the South Goa Lok Sabha seat in a bid to wrest the seat from the Congress in the upcoming election, the party's leadership must address two critical concerns in the constituency's hinterland areas: the resumption of mining operations and the delayed provision of political reservations for Scheduled Tribes in the Goa Legislative Assembly.
These issues are poised to trouble the BJP, particularly in the hinterland talukas of the South Goa constituency, which are considered the party's core voter base. While the issue over the political reservations for the ST communities will play a role in the Assembly segments of Canacona, Quepem, Curchorem, Sanguem Sanvordem, Madkai and other areas including Shiroda, the mining issue is restricted to the talukas of Sanguem, Quepem, and Dharbandora.
While the Congress is expected to go all out to corner the BJP in their den, exposing the ruling party’s failure to re-start mining and to give political reservations for the ST communities, the BJP will have a task cut out to convince the people in the mining areas and the ST populace that the party is sincere in resolving these twin issues at the earliest.
In the 2014 Lok Sabha poll, the BJP had registered unassailable leads over the Congress in the mining belt of Quepem, Sanguem, Sanvordem and Curchorem. However, the BJP's lead in the mining belt decreased in the 2019 election, disrupting the ruling party's electoral calculations.
