Former chief minister, late Manohar Parrikar, hears grievances of fisherwomen in Colva during his rule. Captured by : The Goan/File photo
MARGAO
Strategic tie-ups with Salcete-based regional parties and independents during the Manohar Parrikar era had not only helped the BJP to form governments over the last two decades, but the alliances with the Salcete MLAs had come in handy for the saffron party to mobilise votes in the Lok Sabha Sabha polls in the minority stronghold.
After Parrikar’s Mission Salcete came a cropper in the 2004 Lok Sabha polls, the alliances and tie-ups with Salcete-based parties and independents indeed helped the party to make inroads in the Congress stronghold.
Take for instance the 2014 Lok Sabha election. After Parrikar’s return to the Chief Minister’s saddle in the 2012 Assembly polls and the independents and the Goa Vikas Party extending support to the BJP government, the former chief minister got then Salcete's lone Minister Avertano Furtado and GVK party MLAs to mobilise support for the BJP candidate Narendra Sawaikar in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
Then GVK MLAs Mickky Pacheco and Caitu Silva worked overtime in both Nuvem and Benaulim Assembly segments to drum up support for Sawaikar. The BJP ended its campaign in the South on a winning note with an impressive performance in minority areas such as Nuvem, Benaulim and Navelim, thanks to strategic tie-ups with the local satraps.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP had no leader worth their salt in Salcete to openly work for the sitting MP Sawaikar, leaving the party with no option but to bank on its two deputy chief ministers, Vijai Sardesai and Manohar Ajgaonkar, but in vain.
