the goan I network
MARGAO
Ahead of the D-Day on Thursday, the main contestants “ BJP sitting MP Narendra Sawaikar and his Congress challenger Francisco Sardinha, spent some time at their respective district party offices in the city here on Wednesday as the duo exuded confidence of winning the seat.
The Congress camp, however, appeared upbeat with three-time former MP Sardinha reiterating that he would win the South Goa seat by a margin of minimum 20,000 votes. “I have made it clear that I will win the seat by a margin of 20,000 votes. The margin may go up further, but I am confident of winning by minimum 20,000 votes,” he told The Goan.
Sardinha made his appearance felt in the South Goa District Congress office on Wednesday morning and evening and interacted with party functionaries, including district president Joe Dias, party leader Ethel Lobo, Tribolo D’Souza, former MP Shantaram Naik’s son and others. In fact, Sardinha and the party leaders appeared confidence personified, as they pointed out that the way appears clear for the Congress to regain the South Goa seat after a gap of five years.
The Congress camp was not unduly perturbed by the exit polls, which had predicted that both the North and South Goa Lok Sabha seats will be retained by the BJP. “I do not know how the exit polls have come out with the predictions. We are confident that the Congress would regain the South Goa seat by a comfortable margin,” thundered district President Joe Dias.
The BJP camp, on the other hand, sounded cautious, with the sitting MP saying they have every reason to believe that the BJP would retain the South Goa seat. Sawaikar and the party leaders were trying to figure out how the voters of Madkai, Sanvordem, Sanguem would vote this time, even though the ground reports spoke of the BJP having done well in Curchorem Assembly segment. “Let us wait and see what happens in these four segments. These are BJP’s strongholds and I am confident the party will do well,” Sawaikar said.
Former Sanguem MLA Subhash Faldesai and many other party leaders and workers, many of whom were party counting agents, were present in the BJP district office on Wednesday evening. Sources said the counting agents were explained their brief at the counting hall as they would be the party workers who would be having a close look at the counting of votes at the Multipurpose Centre, Borda, on Thursday.
