MAPUSA
There was an uneasy calm in Mapusa with several former councillors, who lost out to reservations, now busy trying to weigh various options available to them.
However, there was a buzz at the residence of the local MLA Joshua D’Souza on Saturday, with several aspirants making a beeline to the legislator’s house lobbying for support in the ensuing civic elections.
Besides exploring legal options to counter the “bias” reservation of wards, the former councillors were also looking at options of shifting and contesting from other wards.
“I am in the process of consulting my lawyers to seek legal options,” said Michael Carrasco, a former MMC chairperson of Mapusa.
Carrasco has been badly mauled by the reservation as his own Ward 3 has been reserved for OBC, while the two adjacent Wards 2 and 4, where he could have tried his luck, have also been reserved for women.
Another former MMC chairperson Rupa Bhakta, who has also been affected after her ward was reserved for Scheduled Caste, is now looking to shift her focus to neighbouring Ward 10.
On Saturday, she was in the company with the local MLA at his residence trying to garner support for her candidature in Ward 10, which is reserved for women.
Soon after the reservation list was out, Mapusa MLA Joshua D’Souza called for a meeting of all his councillors from the outgoing council.
“Yes. We met to discuss the fallout of the reservation and the way forward. As expected, some of the councillors who cannot contest because of the reservation were hurt. This was our first meeting. We will meet again very shortly. We will find a way out,” D’Souza told The Goan.
Sources informed that the councillors who cannot contest will be given an option to field their kith or kin or candidate of their choice in the ward.
For now, councillors Sanjay Mishal and Tushar Tople, who were sulking after their Wards 6 and 10 respectively were reserved, have been pacified with the option.
But all is not hunky-dory for the BJP and the Mapusa MLA, as in many wards there are several aspirants who want to contest under the BJP panel.
Several aspirants visited the residence of the local MLA on Saturday morning seeking support for their candidature.
