Race cancellation ignites feud between MLA and ex-MLA loyalists
Political rivalry in fast lane: A group of councillors object to the Formula 4 event during the Mormugao Municipal Council (MMC) last week.
VASCO
The revving of Formula 4 engines may have gone silent in Mormugao, but the political noise it left behind still echoes across the coastal constituency.
What was supposed to be a high-octane international event at Bogda-Sada has instead turned into a high-voltage political spectacle, exposing deep cracks within the BJP’s local unit.
The Formula 4 street race — once touted as Goa’s grand leap into global motorsport — hit the brakes after protests erupted in Bogda and Sada. Locals, backed by councillors and former MLA Milind Naik, opposed the venue, claiming it would disrupt daily life and damage local infrastructure.
The opposition crescendoed into late-night meetings, slogan-shouting, and eventually, a walkout at the Mormugao Municipal Council’s special session.
As the political engines overheated, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant himself drove into Vasco to douse the flames. In a late-night announcement, the CM declared that the race venue would be shifted to an “alternate location.”
His decision was applauded by the protesters — but it left one man particularly disappointed.
Mormugao MLA Sankalp Amonkar, once a fierce Congress critic of the BJP and now a BJP MLA himself, didn’t mince words.
“Mormugao lost a golden, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity because of political motives,” he said, hinting that the protests were orchestrated by rivals from within his own party.
Race bringing political rivalry to fast lane
The Formula 4 episode peeled back the curtain on what many in political circles already suspected — a cold war simmering between two BJP power centres: Sankalp Amonkar and his predecessor, Milind Naik.
The duo’s rivalry dates back over a decade. In 2012, Naik, then a strong BJP face, defeated Amonkar — who was contesting on a Congress ticket — by around 900 votes. In 2017, Naik narrowly retained his seat with a razor-thin margin of 140 votes. But in 2022, Amonkar had his revenge, toppling Naik by 1,950 votes to finally become MLA of Mormugao.
While Amonkar may have won the seat, Naik’s influence didn’t evaporate.
In the 2021 municipal elections held before the assembly polls, Naik’s camp had secured seven of nine municipal wards from Mormugao constituency, leaving Amonkar with just two. Those same councillors, still loyal to Naik, have since posed a constant challenge to Amonkar’s authority.
Then came the twist. A few months after his 2022 win as a Congress MLA, Amonkar switched sides and joined the BJP — the very party he had fought for years. His entry was welcomed by the State leadership, but on the ground in Mormugao, it created chaos.
Suddenly, the BJP had two factions — the “original” BJP loyal to Milind Naik, and the “imported” BJP aligned with the new entrant, Amonkar.
Councillors versus the MLA
Ever since, the councillors seen as Naik’s loyalists have resisted Amonkar’s attempts to consolidate power. They skipped events, issued dissenting statements, and — during the Formula 4 saga — openly opposed a project that Amonkar supported.
For them, the race was a symbol of government excess and public inconvenience. For Amonkar, it was a symbol of development and pride. The difference in perception became the political collision point that finally brought the inner-party rift into the open.
As one senior BJP functionary admitted off record, “The Formula 4 race was the spark. But the friction has been there since Sankalp entered the BJP. You can’t have two engines pulling the same car in opposite directions.”
Battle for control of Mormugao’s steering wheel
The irony is hard to miss — the BJP in Mormugao seems to be racing against itself. On paper, the constituency has a ruling MLA and a ruling party in power. But on the ground, the divided loyalists make it a political tug-of-war.
For Amonkar, the challenge is not just from opposition parties anymore — it’s from within his own backyard. For Naik, the setback of 2022 has not erased his grassroots network, which continues to flex its muscle in moments like the Formula 4 showdown.
As the dust settles on the racetrack that never was, one question remains:
Who will steer Mormugao’s BJP — the MLA in power, or the leader still commanding the lanes of loyalty?
Either way, the Formula 4 saga proved that in Mormugao politics, the real race is far from over.
