MARGAO
Will the BJP have a free run in the eight hinterland seats of Madkai, Ponda, Shiroda, Sanvordem, Sanguem, Curchorem, Quepem and Canacona to give the much-needed vote boost for Pallavi Dempo and ensure her victory in the Lok Sabha election?
With a host of ministers -- Ravi Naik, Ramkrishna Dhavalikar, Subhash Shirodkar and Subhash Phal Dessai, representing as many as four out of eight seats, and not to mention Goa Legislative Assembly Speaker, Ramesh Tawadkar, the BJP went to the Lok Sabha polls as a formidable force in the hinterland, where the Congress was on a sticky wicket.
The moot question, however, remains unanswered “ whether the BJP will have a free run in the eight hinterland Assembly segments, which have been the party’s stronghold over the years.
If the answer is in the affirmative, political observers say the BJP should not find any major difficulty in garnering a huge vote lead, adequate enough to neutralize the projected lead of the Congress in Salcete.
For, in the recent past, Assembly segments such as Madkai and Sanvordem have given huge and unassailable leads for the BJP in the Lok Sabha polls. Any reduction of the lead in these two segments has a bearing on the overall vote lead for the BJP as was evident in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls when the vote lead from Sanvordem and Madkai had come down drastically, leaving the party stranded.
Congress leaders in private, however, say the silent vote will play a decisive role in the voting pattern in the Assembly segments in the hinterland areas. Party candidate Captain Viriato Fernandes said the BJP would get a shocker in the hinterland segments, exuding confidence that the BJP vote lead would come down in almost all the eight segments.
On the contrary, Captain Viriato said Congress is expected to do well in segments such as Shiroda and Sanguem, even as he confidently stated that the party would get a lead in Quepem and would perform well in Curchorem.
