OLD GOA
The decision of the Revolutionary Goans Party (RGP) to foray on its own in the Lok Sabha polls didn’t seem to have done any good for the party as it was just about able to get the same number of votes it got in the 2022 Assembly elections.
In 2022, RGP contested in 18 of the 20 constituencies in North Goa and it got around 47,000 votes, which is almost equal to the 45,744 votes it got for the North Goa LS seat.
However, if one considers the votes garnered by the victorious BJP candidate Shripad Naik, then RGP’s candidate Tukaram (Manoj) Parab lost by a whopping margin of 2,12,042 votes.
Parab could garner only 45,744 votes as opposed to 2,57,786 votes of BJP’s winning candidate, Shripad Naik.
This only goes to show that the RGP was nowhere near the two major national parties as even Congress’ Ramakant Khalap got 1,41,311 votes, way ahead of RGP.
Similarly,
In South Goa too, the RGP juggernaut failed to impress in the Congress stronghold of Salcete, but made impressive inroads into the hinterland talukas, affecting BJP candidate Pallavi Dempo’s vote lead in the scheme of things. RGP candidate Rubert Pereira ended his Lok Sabha campaign by polling 18885 votes, and finishing third in the race.
In St Andre where it has its lone MLA Viresh Borkar, the party stood third behind the Congress and the BJP.
The party also fared badly in the Tivim, Valpoi, Mayem and Poriem constituencies where it polled lesser votes compared to 2022 Assembly polls.
The party could however take heart from the fact that it was able to increase its votes tally in constituencies like Priol where it got 4,781 votes as opposed to 2,517 votes in 2022.
Also in Pernem, RGP’s vote tally swelled to 4,621 votes from 2,755 votes as also in Mandrem where it got 2,465 votes against the 1,219 votes of 2022 and in Bicholim where RGP polled 1,953 votes to the 593 votes of 2022.
However, with RGP unable to maintain its lead in St Andre it means that the party has not been able to get a winning margin in any of the 20 constituencies of North Goa, which should be a worrying factor for the regional outfit which was touting the Lok Sabha polls as a semi-final.
And one of the factors that went against RGP in North Goa was the fact that the party deputed its lone MLA Viresh Borkar to canvass for its candidate Rubert Pereira in the South in a bid to increase its base there.
However, the move bombed as RGP not only fared very badly in the South but also MLA Borkar was himself not able to devote much time in his own constituency resulting in RGP standing third in St Andre.
The other factor that went heavily against RGP was its decision not to align with the INDIA bloc.
It meant that RGP became an easy target for the parties of the INDIA bloc to term it as a B-team of the BJP and a vote-splitter.
The tag weighed heavily on the RGP, which did try to make amends by offering to ally with INDIA bloc but with only a few days left.
However, here too, RGP was caught on the wrong foot as it put forth conditions which the party leaders themselves knew that the INDIA bloc would never accept.
The episode exposed bare the RGP and the people started looking with suspicion at the party’s sudden U-turn when it had earlier said that the time for alliance is all but over.
The targeting of mainly Opposition parties by the RGP also did not help the party’s cause as the voters started looking at the party with more suspicion.
Some religious leaders too played a vital role in ensuring that the votes of the INDIA bloc were not split as they appealed to the voters to vote for a party with secular credential and also not to vote for the party which will only split the secular votes.
The deserting of the party by some of its leaders also added to the RGP’s woes as they openly extended their support for the INDIA bloc candidate.
To sum it all, the RGP appeared to have bitten more than it could chew and it remains to be seen whether the party is able to reinvent itself in a bid to remain a serious contender at the 2027 Assembly polls.
