MARGAO
Will the Congress finally manage to control the affairs of the Cuncolim Municipal Council with as many as seven out of the 12 councilors moving a no-confidence motion against Chairperson Polita Carneiro? Or will the BJP leadership checkmate the Congress MLA Clafacio Dias, who is believed to have given his blessings to the seven-member group to table the no-trust against the CMC Chairperson?
These questions have come to the fore in Cuncolim political circles ahead of the no-confidence motions tabled against both Chairperson Polita Carneiro and Vice-chairperson Shashank Desai. Both the no-confidence motions will be taken up for discussion at separate meetings scheduled on June 15.
While the no-confidence motion against the Vice-chairperson Shashank Desai will be decided on June 15 morning, the motion against Chairperson Polita will be taken up for discussion in the evening.
While Shashank has teamed up with councillors close to the Cuncolim MLA to dislodge Polita, the former himself is gearing up to face a no-trust motion tabled by members of Polita’s group.
Sources in the know informed that the result of the no-trust motion against Shashank will have a bearing on the fate of the Chairperson who will face the motion in the evening of June 15.
The bigger question that is doing the rounds in the town is whether the BJP state and district leadership will leave the Cuncolim Municipal Council to slip away from the party, months ahead of the crucial Lok Sabha elections due in 2019. This question assumes significance and comes against the backdrop of the fact that at least two to three councillors owing allegiance to the BJP are signatories to the no-confidence motion against Polita, whose affiliation to BJP’s ex-Cuncolim MLA Rajan Naik is well-known.
The question will certainly come to haunt the BJP state and district leadership as they will have to take a call on whether to convince the two-three signatories to the motion to think twice in supporting the motion and work towards a situation that the municipal leadership remains with the party especially in the light of the coming Lok Sabha elections.
What is interesting to note is that Chairperson Polita, who had initially stated that she may step down in the wake of the no-confidence motion, now seems to be gearing up to face the motion. The Congress camp led by MLA Clafacio Dias has exuded confidence of dislodging the CMC Chairperson, aware that the rival BJP camp will go all out to woo the signatories with offers to defeat the no-trust motion against Polita.
