MARGAO
With a day to go for the campaign to end in the ensuing Zilla Panchayat bypoll, the three top players in the fray, the ruling BJP, Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party, are leaving nothing to chance in the bypoll for the Davorlim Zilla Panchayat seat.
With the party eying for a hattrick in Davorlim, the ruling BJP roped in State party President Sadanand Tanavade as a last-ditch effort to drum up support for party candidate Paresh Naik. Tanavade not only inducted an independent candidate Bhagwan Redkar and panch member Natasha Dias into the party, but the presence of the State president is viewed as an attempt to tie all loose ends in the ongoing campaign for the party candidate.
In his characteristic style, Tanavade said the bypoll would not have any bearing on the South Goa Zilla panchayat seat, with the party in power with around 18-19 seats. He, however, said that the victory of Paresh would help take the development, from the Centre and State to the grassroots.
BJP Navelim MLA Ulhas Tuenkar has also put his heart and soul into the campaign of the party candidate for the Davorlim bypoll. The Navelim MLA has been leading the campaign for the Davorlim seat, left vacant after him after his election to the Goa Legislative Assembly in the 2022 election.
On the other hand, Congress has a task cut out to regain the seat after a long gap. The party had lost the Davorlim seat to the BJP in the last two elections, apparently due to a split in the non-BJP votes. The party has fielded Leon Raikar, son of former Davorlim Sarpanch late John Raikar, after he joined the party last month after quitting the Trinamool Congress party. Leon enjoys good equations amongst the political heavyweights, TMC Rajya Sabha MP Luizinho Faleiro and former MLA Churchill Alemao, both of whom enjoy influence in the Davorlim ZP constituency comprising the villages of Aquem-Baixo, Rumdamol and Davorlim.
In the 2020 Zilla panchayat election, the Davorlim seat had gone in favour of the BJP, primarily due to a split in the non-BJP vote. The Congress, however, have a challenge at hand from the Aam Aadmi Party candidate Sidesh Bhagat. For, the AAP leadership is believed to have not lost a single stone unturned to make its presence in the constituency, especially amongst the Muslim minority.
Sources in the know pointed out that 5000-plus Muslim votes may play crucial and can help defeat the BJP if the vote is consolidated in favour of one of the candidates, saying a split of this crucial votes may go in favour of the ruling BJP.
