Three sitting independents brave the
winds to contest as independents again
THE GOAN NETWORK
PANAJI
Braving the whispers from political history, three of the five sitting independent MLAs on Saturday went to polls yet again without a party tag.
Velim MLA Benjamin Silva, Navelim MLA Avertano Furtado and Porvorim MLA Rohan Khaunte have thrown caution to the wind with Furtado and Khaunte turning down overtures from regional and national parties in choosing to contest as independent candidates from their respective constituencies yet again.
In 2012, Khaunte had registered a surprise victory against BJP’s Govind Parvatkar by a margin of 900 votes in Porvorim constituency. However, this year, the constituency experienced a surge in warmth towards the BJP in the run up to the polls with BJP candidate Guruprasad Pawaskar’s campaign receiving high response from the public.
Benaulim constituency has its fingers crossed with heavyweight leader and Goa Pradesh Congress Committee president Luzinho Faleiro eyeing a comeback on his home turf. Furtado won in Navelim in 2012 beating Churchill Alemao of Congress by a respectable margin of 1,313. Despite the fact that he is now up against the Congress president, Furtado has shied away from joining the Bharatiya Janata Party. Chief Minsiter Laxmikant Parsekar made several offers to Furtado, who was the fisheries minister in his cabinet.
In Velim, Silva is up against Congress’ Filipe Nery Rodrigues once again. Silva had defeated Rodrigues in 2012 in Velim constituency by a whopping margin of 4,956. The battle for Velim has been rendered more interesting this year with Goa Forward candidate Anthony Rodrigues gunning for the seat.
Meanwhile, Naresh Sawal and Vijai Sardessai, who entered the Assembly as independent MLAs in 2012, contested on party platforms this time. While Sawal joined the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party and recontested from Bicholim, Vijai floated his own party, Goa Forward, and stepped into the fray under its banner.
