MARGAO
The Congress camp headed by Leader of Opposition Digambar Kamat was all smiles as the latest ward reservations notified by the Director of Municipal Administration has only marginally affected the candidates contesting the Margao civic polls under the Model Margao banner.
In fact, though the reservations have affected Model Margao’s three candidates, the Leader of Opposition appeared happy over the notification. He welcomed the ward reservations saying that it has done justice to women, OBCs and the ST communities.
Three prominent candidates contesting under Model Margao, including Margao Congress block president Gopal Naik (Ward 13), sitting councillor Damu Naik (Ward 14) and former MMC Chairperson Ganashyam Shirodkar (Ward 22) have been affected by the reservations, virtually ruling them out of the fray.
“People tried to manipulate the ward reservations to suit their interests. From day one, we had opposed the reservations since there was no proper representation to women, OBCs and the SC/STs. To protect the rights of these communities, we had moved the High Court and the Supreme Court upheld the verdict of the former,” he added.
“Today, the DMA has declared the reservations for the five councils. I think the DMA has taken into account the HC and SC judgements while doing the reservations,” he added.
