Just 72 hours to go but visibility of BJP campaign in Panaji low

PANAJI
Polling in Goa on May 7 is just 72 hours away but uncharacteristically, the campaign of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is still low key in the capital city which has been its bastion ever since former chief minister, late Manohar Parrikar, first won it in 1994.

Revenue Minister Atanasio (Babush) Monserrate, who represents the assembly segment, has just got activated and his team, comprising councillors and other workers conducted a round of campaigning in Mala and Ribandar on Friday and Saturday.

Separately, Parrikar’s son Utpal and a bunch of his supporters, mostly comprising of former Panaji mandal members of the BJP, are also doing the rounds in pockets of the city to solicit support for Naik’s sixth bid to be North Goa MP.

Although sources in Babush’s camp deny any problems within the BJP camp due to Utpal’s activities related to the Lok Sabha campaign, party sources said the peculiar situation was a hindrance for the campaign to take off in the capital city.

“He (Babush) has his own team. He is not dependent on anyone else. We have covered Mala and Ribandar. Tomorrow and later through door to door visits the entire constituency will be covered,” a close aide of the Revenue Minister said.

Utpal, who quit the BJP on the eve of the 2022 assembly elections and contested Panaji as an Independent albeit unsuccessfully, has off and on been a critic of Babush, since.

He has however publicly announced his support for the BJP in this Lok Sabha election and said he is in favour of a third term as PM for Narendra Modi.

Typically in parliamentary elections, Shripad has always gained a nearly 3,000 votes margin in the Panaji assembly segment. In 2019, the lead dropped by just 750 votes, despite Congress with Babush as candidate winning the simultaneous bye-election by over 1,500 votes.

Khalap’s campaign comes alive, INDIA allies visit homes

PANAJI: While the saffron camp’s campaign stayed low-key in Panaji, the electioneering of INDIA-Congress candidate Ramakant Khalap too was invisible but it came alive on Friday-Saturday with teams of volunteers from Congress and AAP seen going around visiting homes to solicit support.

On Saturday, the INDIA campaign team sprung a surprise roping Sameer Kakodkar, son of former chief minister Sashikala Kakodkar on door to door visits.

Kakodkar accompanied by AAP’s Jack Sukhija campaigned for Khalap in the Fontainhas-Mala area and the duo evoked surprise reactions from many. While Kakodkar is the grandson of Goa’s first chief minister Dayanand Bandodkar, Sukhija is the grandson of the first Opposition Leader Dr Jack de Sequeira, both known to be fierce political opponents but who history records had extremely cordial personal ties.

Gomes is nowhere to be seen and the AAP’s setup in the capital is yet to get down to the ground other than holding campaign-related press conferences.

In fact Panaji, despite having public issues galore to latch on to in a poll campaign amidst all the mess and chaos of the ongoing ‘smart city’ works, seems insulated from the electioneering noise even with elections barely 10 days away.