MARGAO
Deputy Chief Minister, Chandrakant Kavlekar has had his way in having his close aide Khushali Velip for the post of South Goa Zilla Panchayat Vice-Chairperson, even as the BJP seemed to have stuck to its strategy of giving the top two posts of chairperson and vice-chairperson to the elected members from the hinterland.
That’s not all. The party also seemed to have maintained social engineering in nominating candidates for the coveted posts, with the party opting for a Scheduled Tribe candidate for the post of vice-chairperson to maintain the delicate balance with the chairperson’s post going in favour of a candidate with a high caste background.
The party also seemed to have given weightage for seniority. While speculations were rife in Zilla Panchayat quarters that Panchayat Minister Mauvin Godinho may back unopposed ZP member representing Sancoale Anita Thorat for the post of chairperson, the party leadership preferred to nominate two-time ZIlla Panchayat member representing Sanvordem, Suvarna Tendulkar for the post.
Though many believe that Congress-turned-BJP MLA, Deputy Chief Minister Chandrakant Kavlekar has got the party leadership to accept Kushali Velip’s candidature for the vice-chairperson’s post, it also remains the fact that Kushali had been representing the Barcem ZP seat in Quepem Assembly constituency for a long time now, indicating that the party has given due weightage to seniority.
During the last term, the BJP leadership had nominated the candidates hailing from Rivona in Quepem and Kavlem in Ponda taluka for the post of South Goa Zilla Panchayat chairperson and vice-chairperson.
That Navnath Naik and Chitra Phadte presided over the office of the South Goa Zilla Panchayat for the entire five-year term suggests that the ruling party sent a message that the party believes in ensuring political stability at the district panchayat body.
It could, however, not be ascertained whether the BJP leadership will rotate the chair of chairperson and vice-chairperson in the current term, with sources in the ruling party only saying the party may take a call on these questions only after the 2022 Assembly election.
