the goan I network
CANACONA
Throughout the day, conflicting reports were doing the rounds with some suggesting that the BJP election committee had finalized the candidature of former Canacona MLA Vijay Poi Khot, while rejecting the candidature of sitting MLA Ramesh Tawadkar.
Vijay Poi Khot’s group of supporters and the Canacona BJP block, which is fully backing Tawadkar, kept their fingers crossed, as another set of reports were doing the rounds that the State leadership had summoned Tawadkar to Panaji.
According to reliable sources, Tawadkar swiftly left for Panaji and returned only after sunset, but what transpired at the BJP’s State headquarters continued to remain a mystery, with no reliable person willing to throw light on
the visit.
Efforts to contact Tawadkar proved futile till the filing of this report, as Tawadkar’s mobile phone was continuously switched-off.
Meanwhile, messages on WhatsApp began to circulate that Khot had been finalized for Canacona. The rumours almost sparked off celebrations in certain quarters of Poi Khot’s camp, while leaving grim faces in Tawadkar’s camp. Efforts to contact BJP Canacona Block President Mahesh Naik were also
not successful. When contacted, Canacona Block Vice-President Sanjay Komarpant, put up a brave face and stated: “It’s virtually impossible that the party ticket has been allotted to someone other than Tawadkar.”
“Twenty-four members from our block were again called to Panaji on Sunday and were again asked to specify why the ticket should be given to Tawadkar and not to Poi Khot.”
“The entire block was almost unanimous to state that only Tawadkar should contest on party’s symbol and no one else. We were told that the announcements would be made in Delhi whenever the issue stands finally decided.”
