the goan I network
MARGAO
Will the coming together of 14 councillors, including councillors backed by the BJP and Leader of the Opposition, Digambar Kamat over the controversial issue of Dr Jack de Sequeira’s statue culminate in the tabling of a no-confidence motion against Goa Forward-backed Margao Municipal Council Chairperson Babita Prabhudesai?
“May be”, was how former Chairperson and BJP-backed councillor Arthur D’Silva reacted to queries from the media, even as Digambar’s close aide and former Chairperson Doris Texeira reacted with caution, saying that question of moving no-confidence motion against Babita will be decided later. Other BJP-backed councillors including Jaffar Budani said the two groups will meet to decide on the question of dislodging the Goa Forward-backed municipal chairperson.
The question whether the 14 councillors would make the next move of tabling the no-confidence motion did the rounds in the corridors of the civic body, after the City Fathers staged a boycott of the Council meeting chaired by Chairperson Babita.
On paper and as was evident at the Council meeting, the Goa Forward group in the 25 member Civic body is now reduced to 11 Councilors, with one of the Councilors Clara Pereira joining the boycott staged by the opposition.
The strength of the opposition councillors is presently pegged at 14 in the 25-member Council, in the event the BJP-backed and Digambar-supported councillors join hands to dislodge the municipal chairperson. On the other hand, Babita and the Goa Forward chief Vijai Sardesai will have to scout for minimum two councillors to prevent the Margao Municipal Council from slipping away from the hands of the regional party.
It’s still unclear whether Sardesai will support Babita to face any threat of a no-confidence motion, or get her to step down from office, a decision she was supposed to take around two months ago, to pre-empt any no-confidence motion against the chairperson and pave way for the election of a new face as chairperson by getting the support from the rival group as well.
What also remains unclear is whether Leader of the Opposition Digambar Kamat will give a green signal to his group of councillors to join hands with the BJP to dislodge Chairperson Babita and form a new Council, against the backdrop of the fact that the BJP is the Margao MLA’s principal rival in Margao, with the political rivalry dating back since 2005 when Kamat had quit the BJP to embrace the Congress party, resulting in the downfall of the Manohar Parrikar-led government.
