MARGAO
Having crossed swords in the 2022 Assembly elections over the battle for Margao, former deputy chief minister Manohar Ajgaonkar and Congress-turned-BJP Margao MLA Digambar Kamat were the cynosure of all eyes as they were seen huddled together at the Ravindra Bhavan Margao on Monday.
On the sidelines of a party programme at Ravindra Bhavan, the Congress-turned-BJP MLA was spotted in a discussion with former deputy chief minister Manohar Ajgaonkar and brother Rajendra Ajgaonkar. The trio were seen discussing something for some time, but not before they came under the scanner of the party workers and the media covering the programme.
Both Ajgaonkar and Kamat had fought a bitter battle for the control of Margao in the 2022 Assembly polls. The BJP had fielded Ajgaonkar against Kamat in Margao with the hope of wresting the seat from Congress but in vain.
During the campaign, the duo were involved in a verbal duel and had come face to face at the migrant-inhabited Moti Dongor, where the BJP made an abortive bid to make inroads and storm into the Kamat citadel. While the former Congress chief minister and ex-BJP deputy chief minister had fought a close battle, Kamat, however, had emerged triumphant with an unprecedented victory margin against his opponent.
However, after the Congress MLA embraced the BJP earlier this month, the State party leadership had undertaken an exercise to ensure that the Congress-turned-BJP MLA and his workers gel with the party cadre, who had been involved in a running battle with Kamat for the last 17 years.
