MAPUSA
With the panchayat elections result done and dusted, the focus has now shifted to cobbling up the numbers and foisting a group favourable to the local MLA.
While the picture is clear in several panchayats where panels floated by the MLAs have got a clear majority, there are many where Independents have won and the race is now on to woo these panchas and form a group.
Some former MLAs of the BJP are also making a concerted effort to form their groups and get party-backed panchayats to power in constituencies represented by Congress MLAs.
Soon after the results were out on Friday, former Aldona MLA Glenn Ticlo quickly gathered some elected panchas from Bastora, Moira, Nachinola, Ucassaim and Pomburpa and paraded them before Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and even had a photo session along with State BJP president Sadanand Tanavade and other party leaders.
But on Saturday morning, some of those panchas got in touch with Aldona MLA Carlos Ferreira and expressed support for his group to form the panchayat.
“We are not worried about all these political antics indulged by the BJP. Our sarpanchas will be elected in almost all the panchayats in Aldona,” said a close confidante of Congress MLA Carlos Ferreira.
Similarly, in Siolim, although Congress MLA Delilah Lobo has claimed that members from her panel have won a majority in all the six panchayats in the constituency, BJP Yuva Morcha president Sameer Mandrekar, son of former BJP MLA Dayanand Mandrekar said that several panchas from their panel have also been elected and a sarpanch of their group will get elected in some of the panchayats.
“Several Independents are in touch with us and we are going to stake a claim in at least four panchayats in Siolim,” Mandrekar said.
Congress MLA Kedar Naik from Saligao has got a clean sweep in Reis Magos and Nerul and is expected to get his group in power in Pilerne, Saligao, Guirim and Sangolda.
The picture is much clearer among the senior and experienced legislators who have had their panels elected in most of the panchayats.
Calangute MLA Michael Lobo’s panel has a clear majority in three panchayats “ Candolim, Arpora-Nagoa and Parra “ but got decimated in the significant Calangute.
Interestingly, former Calangute sarpanch Joseph Sequeira who claimed the support of six members soon after the results, by late in the evening paraded all 11 panch members before Chief Minister Pramod Sawant.
Sequeira is expected to be re-elected as the sarpanch of Calangute after a gap of five years.
In Tivim, Fisheries Minister Nilkanth Halarnkar appears invincible as he has got a clear majority in six out of eight panchayats.
While in the seven-member Sirsaim panchayat only one of his members got elected, in the nine-member Colvale panchayat he and the opposition shared the spoils with four members each.
“We will get our sarpanch elected in Colvale too,” a confident Halarnkar said.
