PANAJI
When BJP candidate Vishnu Wagh won the San André constituency wresting the seat from the Congress by a little over a thousand votes, it was no simple victory. It was historic in more ways than one.
A seat that has always been with the Congress and since 1999 with Francisco Silveira, for the first time ever was represented by a non-Catholic MLA in the form of the BJP’s Vishnu Wagh.
In many ways it is a sign of the changing times in the once Catholic dominated constituency.
It should come as no surprise then, that the name of Jagdish Bhobe a candidate on the far right, Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party ticket is being bandied about as a frontrunner to win the seat.
“The constituency is no more Catholic dominated. This isn’t an indictment on those who have made a Portuguese passport and have left permanently or those who have gone abroad for work. It is reflective on the past governments who have failed to create adequate job opportunities in Goa,” Bhobe tells The Goan while on his door to door visits in the Curca village of his constituency.
Others hazard that contesting on an MGP ticket will work to the disadvantage of Bhobe given the party’s association with far right wing ideology, the language issue and the MGP leader Sudin Dhavalikar’s consistent rants against the Portuguese consulate in Goa and the Portuguese in general.
“If he was not on an MGP ticket he would have surely won the election,” a resident of the village says.
Bhobe is up against two main rivals -- three term MLA Francisco Silveira of the Congress and Dhaku Madkaikar as an independent.
Interestingly, for the BJP, all its heroics involved in the historic win in 2012 notwithstanding, things have quickly unravelled.
Talk on the ground that Dhaku Madkaikar the brother of BJP candidate in neighbouring Cumbarjua constituency is the ‘real’ BJP candidate with the theory that present MLA Vishnu Wagh’s brother Ramarao Wagh has been appointed only to ‘placate’ the family.
“If this theory persists Dhaku has a strong chance of being the dark horse this time round,” a resident of Curca who didn’t wish to be named said.
But Bhobe would have none of it. “This man has contested different constituencies in different elections keeping on trying his luck and this time he has come to San André. What is this family raj like the Alemãos?” he asked.
The Congress’ Francisco Silveira being the lone Catholic face in the fray has an inherent advantage. However, with Bhobe, the sarpanch of Goa Velha village contesting, Silveira finds an opponent right in the heart of his stronghold.
His record of being a sarpanch will work in his favour here.
Silveira needs to not only retain his vote share, but seize a chunk of the floating vote. Not being a new face isn’t helping.
Also in fray is the NCP’s Dattaram Chari and the AAP’s Rama Kankonkar. While Chari, is a new face, he is up against the odds. Claiming to be a former political worker of both former MLAs Dr Carmo Pegado and Francisco Silveira, Chari has promised to protect the rights of non resident Goans as well as those living in the State. Avid bullfighter Simon Caiado who supported Wagh the last time is contesting as an independent.
Chari listed the issues like that of the fact that despite the constituency playing host to the Goa Medical College and huge projects like Grand Hyatt and Aldeia de Goa locals do not find jobs in these establishments.
“In GMC the Class IV staff is from Sanquelim at Grand Hyatt the taxi drivers are not locals,” he said.
“It could very well be a case of a third person taking advantage of the fight between Francisco Silveira and Jagdish Bhobe,” a restaurateur from the village says adding that the third person could be Dhaku.
