the goan I network
MAPUSA
It’s obvious that there is no love lost between neo-BJP MLA Nilkant Halarnkar and former BJP MLA Kiran Kandolkar in Tivim constituency and if the rumblings within the party are anything to go by, BJP appears to be heading for a major rebellion in the constituency for the ensuing Zilla Panchayat polls.
On Friday, former BJP MLA Kiran Kandolkar put his party in a piquant situation by stating that the BJP ticket for the Colvale ZP seat in Tivim will definitely go to his wife, Kavita Kandolkar, who will file her nomination on March 4.
“I don’t want to put pressure on the CM or the party, but the party will decide and the ticket will be given only to my wife. There is no doubt on that,” Kandolkar told the media.
“Let the party tell me if they are giving the ticket or not,” he snapped back, when queried whether his wife would file her nomination as an Independent in the event the party denies her the ticket.
The animosity between the two heavyweights began since 2012 assembly election from Tivim when Halarnkar lost to Kandolkar. The two were pitied against each other again in 2017 assembly polls where Kandolkar lost by a narrow margin to Halarnkar.
When Nilkant Halarnkar along with nine of his Congress colleagues joined the BJP in a major political shakeup in the State in July last year, BJP’s Kiran Kandolkar knew that his political career was at stake although he maintained a guarded silence then.
“It’s not only me. Every karyakarta in Tivim have been sidelined,” Kandolkar said when asked if he was being ignored.
He said he has been actively working for the party since 2007 and later worked as the MLA for five years and continued to work even after losing the 2017 polls. “After the Congress MLA was given entry into BJP, the party had promised me that I will have to shoulder the party work in Tivim constituency,” he opined.
Interestingly, although BJP has established BJP mandals and elected booth adhyakshyas (president) in almost every constituency in the State, Tivim was yet to set up mandal and booth committees.
“Sad to say, seven months have passed, Tivim is yet to elect mandal and booth adhyakshas. And that is one of the reasons why the party work has suffered in Tivim. In order to take this work forward and to bring the josh in the karyakartas, I asked the Colvale ticket for my wife,” Kandolkar said.
Meanwhile, Nilkant Halarnkar decided to take a guarded stance. “I have accepted the working style of the BJP. So I will wait for any decision the party will take,” Halarnkar said on the issue of ticket for the ZP polls.
