the goan I network
MAPUSA
Making a complete U-turn on his stand on the current Zilla Panchayat elections in the State, Waste Management Minister on Thursday said the ZP elections will be a semi-final for the BJP and the results will give the saffron party an opportunity to do a course correction and reboot itself for the 2022 assembly.
“It is going to be a semi-final for us and for our Chief Minister Pramod Sawant. It will help us to analyse where we are going wrong. If we have won so many and lost these many seats, then we will be able to correct ourselves,” Lobo said.
The statement has come as a big surprise as just a week back during the filing of the nominations, the waste management minister had told The Goan that ZP polls cannot be considered as semi-final, as it was fought mostly on village/ward issues.
He had also pointed to the yawning gap between the ZP results in 2015 and the subsequent assembly election results of 2017 of the BJP to reiterate his point. Lobo said the equation changed on the ground when Congress decided to field candidates on party lines and the presence of MGP and AAP in the fray.
“Three political parties in Goa have decided to field candidates on party lines “ BJP, Congress and MGP. The Aam Aadmi Party which has become a national party is also in the fray. All these parties have fielded candidates on party lines…So now I am making it very clear that this has become a semi-final for the assembly election,” he said. Lobo said that it was a contest mainly between the Congress and the BJP in Bardez and in North Goa. “Somehow we have to convince the voters to vote for us. We have to get votes for development. For the work what we have done for the people of Goa,” he said.
The waste management minister who has high stakes in the coastal constituency of Calangute, said he was surprised with the number of people coming out to back the candidate of their choice. “I am shocked around 200 to 300 people coming out to support their candidate. People are coming out to work for the candidate who is doing good work and who is backed by the MLA or even are ready to help a good independent candidate to win,” he said.
Rejecting the claim that he was supporting independent candidates in some constituencies in Bardez, Lobo said that he was campaigning only for BJP candidates.
“Some people are spreading rumours that I am supporting some other candidates only to spoil my name,” he said.
‘Kiran fighting for political survival’
MAPUSA : Asserting that “win-ability” counts, Waste Management Minister Michael Lobo said former Tivim MLA Kiran Kandolkar has fielded candidates to remain relevant as there was threat for his political existence in the constituency.
“Kiran is hurt because his chances of getting ticket for the next election is dim because the sitting MLA has joined BJP and is likely to get the ticket. He is trying to find his feet by fielding his candidates in the ZP elections. If he wins, then he is in the line also for the ticket and if he loses, he will be out of reckoning,” Lobo said. “Win-ability counts. Kiran is fighting for his political survival. You may be a big leader but if you lose an election, you are out and will have to sit at home,” he added.
Lobo also slammed former revenue minister and Porvorim MLA, Rohan Khaunte for doing nothing constructive in his two-and-half-year term as minister. “Rohan should tell the people what he has done for two-and-half years when he was a minister. He should bring a white paper on what he has achieved in the IT sector,” he said and added the former minister failed to provide jobs for youth.
