After losing in three successive elections, one would have expected Isidore Fernandes to have hung up his political boots with little hope of any comeback.
CANACONA
On the contrary, the never-say-die veteran Congress leader simply refused to give up and plotted his remarkable revival from the ashes, to get elected as Canacona MLA for his fourth term, including thrice on the erstwhile Poinguinim constituency, in two-and-half decades.
For Isidore, it was not just a battle to overcome opposition from various quarters, it was also to prove that he could still take on various forces on his own turf and in his own way.
WRITTEN OFF
With every opponent, including some from his own party, having written him off in the elections, Isidore was left to virtually fend for himself. His opponents in Canacona had even mocked him during poll campaigns, with losing BJP candidate Vijay Poi Khot publicly stating that Isidore contested polls only to lose.
His own party leaders paid little attention to Isidore’s campaign and his only companions were a handful of loyal Congress workers.
NO PUBLIC MEETINGS
While his opponents were busy engaged in public meetings and shaming each other, Isidore chose the opposite path and instead, avoided public meetings altogether.
Accompanied by only Elvis Fernandes and Sanju Naik, with occasional support from local leader Daya Pagui, Isidore chose to cash in on his personal rapport with voters by his door-to-door campaign strategy which he began eight months ago.
Even the few corner meetings conducted by Isidore had no assistance from the State Congress leadership. Isidore was compelled to hold one public meeting for the ST community in Gaondongram, after opponents claimed he had no base
in the ST community in
Canacona.
RESPECTED OPPONENTS
During his entire campaign, Isidore made it a point to refrain from bad-mouthing his opponents in public and even refused to make allegations against them, when prodded by the media. This was in sharp contrast to his opponents, especially Tawadkar and Khot, who took every opportunity to hit out at Isidore and at each other.
RETAINING VOTE-BANK
In a bitterly fought 2012 assembly polls, Fernandes had polled an impressive 11,624 votes, but still lost
to Tawadkar in a straight fight by a margin of 2,704 votes.
This time round, Fernandes was aware that a split in BJP votes would see him through and all he needed to do was to ensure that his vote-bank was largely intact. Isidore managed to secure 10,853 votes in the 2017 polls, 771 votes less than his 2012 tally, but it was more than enough to ensure his victory.
In the end, while Khot and Tawadkar were busy hitting out at each other, Isidore patiently waited for them to disintegrate and divide the BJP. And that is exactly what happened on February 4, when a veteran Congressman rose from the ashes to script the rise of Canacona’s Phoenix.
