MARGAO
Ahead of the no trust motion scheduled on Friday, beleaguered Margao Municipal Chairperson Ganashyam Shirodkar tendered his resignation from the post on Thursday citing personal reasons.
The special meeting convened by the Director of Municipal Administration to discuss the no trust motion on Friday, however will take place as schedule, with sources saying it will a mere formality before the motion is carried by the councillors, who have tabled the notice.
The political development comes six days after the two-time former Margao Municipal Chairperson had assumed office as the Margao civic chief with the backing of Goa Forward Party, for the third time in his political career on Friday last.
That the beleaguered chairperson was all set to quit office became evident on Wednesday when GFP chief Vijai Sardesai had dropped hints that Ganashyam will quit office before the meeting called to discuss the motion.
Though Ganashyam had won the chairperson’s election with comfortable margin of 15-10 vote in the 25-member civic body, which saw five BJP-backed Councilors cross-voting in favour the Goa Forward-backed candidate, sources in the know pointed out that efforts to persuade the rebel councillors to openly support the civic chief during the no trust motion came a cropper.
While the five BJP-backed councillors had cross-voted in favour of Ganashyam via the secret ballot, they are believed to have politely declined to oppose the no trust motion since the motion is expected to be decided by show of hands.
Sources said Sardesai and Ganashyam, though they tried their level best to save the situation, however, said they did not compel the rebel BJP councillors to bail out the beleaguered chairperson, more so after they were forced to take an oath before Lord Dambab at the Zambaulim Temple after the election fiasco Friday last.
The resignation was forwarded to the office of the Director of Municipal Administration (DMA) on Thursday noon, after which Ganashyam briefed the media on the circumstances leading to his decision to quit office. “I have not mentioned any ground behind my resignation since the BJP-backed councillors have not levelled any charges against me. This is perhaps the first time that a no trust motion is being tabled sans any charges. Hence, I preferred to resign and address the media than wait for the no trust motion to reject the charges, if any”, he said.
He added: “I do not know what wrong have I committed within two hours after my election warranting a no trust motion. The 15-member BJP-backed councillors were forced to sign the no trust motion within two hours of my election. The Margao MLA Digambar Kamat should explain to the people why I am being removed from office. This had never happened in the history of the Margao Municipal Council”.
