MARGAO, NOV 2
The next Chairperson of the Margao Municipal Council will be decided by Chief Minister Digambar Kamat in consultations with GPCC general secretary Vijay Sardessai and the councilors-elect after the return of Kamat from Delhi in a day or two.
This being the election year, both the Chief Minister and the GPCC general secretary are unlikely to resolve the civic leadership issue through confrontation, but would settle for a consensus candidate with almost all the candidates owing allegiance to the Congress.
Sources in the know said the next Chairperson is likely to be the close confidante of the Chief Minister, who will be too eager to install his men at the helm of Margao Municipal Council. Secondly, the Chief Minister may opt for a candidate belonging to the majority community to further put the BJP on the defensive during the Assembly polls, having routed the saffron party in the just concluded civic polls.
Says the Chief Minister Digambar Kamat: After my return to Goa, I will have consultations with the GPCC general secretary Vijay Sardessai and discuss the issue of civic Chairperson. The issue will also be discussed with the councilors-elect before a final decision is taken on the leadership issue”.
Kamat foresees no problem in the election of the new Margao Municipal Chairperson with almost all the councilors-elect owing allegiance to the Congress. “There should not be any problem in the election of the new Chairperson. I don’t want to comment whether the new Chairperson would be from the Margao area or not, but definitely the new civic chief will be from the Congress”, he told Herald from New Delhi, where he is attending the AICC session.
Though Kamat did not indicate his choice of candidate, the name of former councilor and his close confidante Sushila Naik is doing the rounds in the political circles. Sushila along with former MMC Chairperson Doris Texeira are amongst the senior councilors-elect elected from Margao, but the close relationship between the Texeira’s and Sardesai’s is well known.
Incidentally, the Chief Minister appears very much pleased with the election results in the Margao area of the civic body, not just because some of the BJP leaders bit the dust in the polls, but his candidates did exceedingly well even in BJP areas.
“The people have voted for development. I have been instrumental in providing jobs to the unemployed in Margao. Now, with the people giving a clear-cut mandate for the Congress, it’s our responsibility to provide a clean, transparent and efficient administration to the citizens of Margao”, Kamat said.
What should come as welcome news for the Kamat-Sardessai combine is the fact that the clear-cut mandate in favour of the Congress should hopefully keep the blackmailers and power brokers at bay. It is not out of place to mention here that the power brokers literally made hay taking advantage of the fractured mandate in the 2005 Civic polls.
