MARGAO
The term of the current Lok Sabha ends in 2024, but the BJP seems to have sounded the poll bugle two years ahead, in what looks like a determined bid to consolidate its vote to wrest the South Goa seat from the Congress.
With as many as six of the seven ministers in the Pramod Sawant-led BJP government from South Goa hailing from the hinterland talukas of Ponda, Quepem and Sanguem only goes to show the BJP has unveiled the road map to regain the South Goa seat in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Minority Saxtti did not figure at all in the BJP scheme of things when the Chief Minister expanded his Cabinet during the weekend. Sawant’s move to induct two more ministers from the constituencies of Madkai and Sanguem, taking the number of ministers from South Goa hinterland to six, indicates the party has a plan in place -- to go all out and consolidate its votes in the eight Assembly segments of Ponda, Shiroda and Marcaim in Ponda taluka, Sanvordem and Sanguem in Sanguem Taluka, Curchorem and Quepem in Quepem taluka and the lone seat in Canacona taluka to offset of Congress’ unassailable presence in minority Salcete and ensure the Lotus blooms in South Goa again.
Otherwise, consider this. Of the nine Assembly segments in the hinterland talukas of Ponda, Sanguem, Quepem and Canacona, six of the ruling party MLAs have found a berth in the Cabinet. The party has accommodated Canacona MLA and ST leader Ramesh Tawadkar as the Goa Legislative Speaker. The only MLA from the hinterland belt, who is presently left without any position is Sanvordem MLA Ganesh Gaonkar. Quepem constituency is left out in the power play after Dy Chief Minister Chandrakant Kavlekar lost to the Congress in the recent Assembly polls.
In fact, a glance at the BJP team shows that the party has in its ranks not only just ministers, but experienced players, some of whom are stalwarts and leaders in their own right, who are expected to go all out to get the South Goa seat for the party in 2024. Ministers Ravi Naik, Sudin Dhavalikar, Subhash Shirodkar and Govind Gawde in Ponda, Nilesh Cabral in Quepem, Subhash Faldesai in Sanguem, besides Speaker Ramesh Tawadkar representing Canacona are all expected to hold the fort for the party and get back the South Goa seat in 2024.
A glance at the voter statistics shows that while Salcete, having eight Assembly segments, plays host to around 2,37,520 out of the total 6,21,255 electorate in South Goa, going by the recent Assembly election figures, the hinterland talukas of Ponda, Quepem, Sanguem and Cancona is the home for around 2,41,361 electorate. Assuming that Salcete rallies behind the Congress once again in 2024, the BJP can now hope to put up a formidable show in the hinterland segments with the help of the six ministers to offset, if not neutralize Congress’ big gains in minority Saxtti.
