Despite the heavy presence and strong campaigning by Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar, South Goa MP Narendra Sawaikar, Union Minister Shripad and former Fatorda MLA, Damodar (Damu) Naik, the BJP failed miserably in the constituency and did not win a single vote. Outside of Fatorda BJP filed candidates in all the remaining wards but only managed to secure 3 seats.
The biggest embarrassment for the BJP was the statements by Parsekar who said that this would be a semi-final contest and that he was confident that BJP would win with heavy margins when in reality they only won 4 seats.
While Damu Naik has suffered the biggest loss given that he was the face for the Fatorda campaign, a disgruntled winner and former Margao assembly contestant, Rupesh Mahatme who won from Malbhat, ward no number 17 blamed internal fighting between the party cadres as the reason behind the poor performance. Rupesh who did well for himself by beating Bahujan Samaj strongman and Margao MLA, Digambar Kamat backed Dhananjai Mayenkar was left isolated on Tuesday after the elections as he had only Ketan Kurtakar, Suganda Bhandekar and Raju Shirodkar for company as BJP elected representatives.
“This result is not a so called semi-final. I will sit and introspect on what went wrong. But you have to see that BJP has always fared poorly in municipal elections for the last three terms. Also the two municipalities in Salcete being Margao and Cuncolim have seen a lower voter turnout compared to the rest of Goa. Our voters have abstained from voting. The reason why has to be seen. Though I admit the result is disappointing,” said Damu.
Speaking to BJP karyakartas about their loss, their mood reflected that they have taken offence for being underestimated during these elections.
