SANGUEM
Nine councillors from the Curchorem Cacora Municipal Council (CCMC) who are affiliated to BJP defended their no-confidence motion against newly elected CCMC Chairperson Balkirishna Uttam Sinai Hodarkar within an hour of his election, stating it was at their own behest and not under directions of Power Minister and local MLA Nilesh Cabral.
Addressing a news conference on Saturday, they claimed that the move was taken shortly after their consensus candidate, Vishwas Sawant, was defeated at the chairperson’s election despite having 10 of 15 councillors on their side.
They also claimed that they met immediately after the elections and decided to move the no-confidence motion as they were not happy with Hodarkar as CCMC chairperson.
Asked to justify their decision to move the no-confidence motion barely an hour after the chairperson’s election, Councillor Jasmine Braganza said they were unhappy with the functioning of Hodarkar in the last 18 months.
“He has never taken us into confidence during his last tenure while undertaking development works of the council. Moreover, during his previous term as chairperson, Hodarkar was a total failure and this is basically the reason why we have filed the no-confidence motion against Hodarkar,” said Braganza.
She also claimed that Cabral’s statements against the councillors to the media on Friday was all out of anger.
“Cabral has always been good to us and all of us got elected only because of his support and cooperation. We will always support and rally behind Cabral,” said Braganza.
Incidentally, none among the 10 councillors were in a position to admit what had gone wrong on the day of the election to the chairperson and to identify the three councillors from their 10-member group who had voted against the party candidate and in favour of Hodarkar during the secret ballot.
However, all 10 councillors assured to remain with the party candidate when the no-confidence motion comes up for discussion at a later date.
Resigned as party candidate defeated: vice-chairperson
SANGUEM:
Curchorem Cacora Municipal Council (CCMC) Vice Chairperson Rucha Vasta, who resigned from her post within hours of getting elected, said she had done so only because the party candidate, Vishwas Sawant, was defeated in the election to the chairperson.
“Since Sawant was not there at the top post, there was no point in me continuing as vice-chairperson and hence, I tendered in my resignation,” Vasta, during the news conference.
