THE GOAN NETWORK
MAPUSA: State BJP leaders had a one-on-one discussion with 15 councilors of Mapusa while setting the ball rolling to choose a candidate for the bypolls in Mapusa, even as one of the aspiring councilors who had officially applied for the BJP ticket for Mapusa withdrew his claim on Saturday.
Former Mapusa MLA late Francisco D’Souza’s son, Joshua D’Souza, former chairperson and senior party man Sudhir Kandolkar, Martin Carrasco and CM’s aide Rupesh Kamat had applied for the BJP ticket for the Mapusa seat.
The seat fell vacant after former Mapusa MLA Francisco D’Souza passed away last month.
First-time councilor, Martin Carrasco conveyed his decision to withdraw from the race while interacting with the party leadership.
BJP State President Vinay Tendulkar, Power Minister Nilesh Cabral, Goa Assembly Speaker Pramod Sawant, BJP General Secretary Sadanand Tanavde, and State Organising Secretary Satish Dhond held a discussion with the councilors at the party headquarters in Panaji at noon.
All 15 councilors including ticket aspirants Sudhir Kandolkar and Joshua D’Souza, who are presently councilors in the Mapusa civic body expressed their views to the party leaders.
Mapusa chairperson Ryan Braganza, former chairpersons Sandip Falari and Rohan Kavlekar also spent time with the State party leadership.
Sources informed that the discussion revolved around two principle aspirants “ Joshua D’Souza and Sudhir Kandolkar.
Till yesterday, it appeared Sudhir Kandolkar did not have the backing of councilors but during the interaction with the BJP leaders, some first-time councilors threw their weight behind Kandolkar.
The State leaders were expected to meet the Mapusa BJP mandal, yuva morcha, mahila mandal and some prominent citizens to elicit their views on the choice of a candidate for Mapusa.
Sources said members of Mapusa mandal and yuva morcha were expected to pitch for the candidature of Rupesh Kamat.
It may be recalled Sudhir Kandolkar and Joshua D’Souza have already started their campaign at the individual level.
Both have been going door to door visiting people in the various wards in the city.
