MAPUSA
Support of panchayat members does not always ensure a person to win an election, said former WRD minister and Siolim MLA Vinoda Paliencar suggesting that he was not very much concerned whether the panchayat members backed him or not in his quest to re-contest from the Siolim constituency in 2022 assembly polls.
Paliencar also said the government has recently sanctioned works of Rs 30 crore in his constituency which will be taken up soon after the monsoon.
“It does not bother me whether the panch members from various panchayats in the constituency are with me or not. Everyone knows that in the 2017 assembly elections most of the panch members supported ex-minister Dayanand Mandrekar but yet he lost the seat against me,” Paliencar said.
The Siolim MLA was responding to a query that most of the panchayat members from all the six panchayats in Siolim were backing Ports Minister, Michael Lobo, whose wife is expected to contest in the constituency in the forthcoming assembly polls.
Paliencar said one must also remember that besides the elected panchayat members there are other candidates who took the second and third position in the panchayat elections who could also influence the final result.
He further said that soon after the elections are announced a lot of changes will take place and panchayat members will also switch sides depending on political alignments.
The Siolim MLA said that Chief Minister Pramod Sawant had recently handed over to him a letter of various works worth Rs 30 crore to be taken up in Siolim.
“Most of the works are of repair and hot-mixing of various roads which will be taken soon after the season end of the monsoon. By the end of November all roads in Siolim will get a new carpet of hot-mix,” he said.
He also disclosed that work on the new water reservoir in Anjuna has been completed and will be inaugurated in the hands of the CM.
