Team Herald
MARGAO: BJP-backed councillor Damodar Shirodkar, a close aide of Margao MLA Digambar Kamat is all set to be the next chairperson of the Margao Municipality. Shirodkar is the only candidate who has filed his nomination for the post, till the scheduled time ended on Tuesday.
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Camping at Nanu Resort on Betalbatim Beach since Monday evening, Damodar Shirodkar, along with six other councillors from the BJP camp arrived at the municipal building on Tuesday morning and submitted three sets of nominations. The group waited till noon in order to check if any other councillor would file their nomination for the vacant post.
The other six councillors who accompanied Shirodkar were Camilo Barreto, who is touted to be the next Vice-Chairperson, Sadanand Naik, Raju Naik, Ronita Azgaonkar, Varak and Mahesh Amonkar.
It may be recalled that Damodar Shirodkar had staked his claim to be Chairperson in the initial stages of forming the new council, nearly 16 months ago when he had also expressed anger against Kamat for ‘ignoring’ him. He had even remarked, “This is the reward I get for working for him for the last 20 years”. Things The two made peace eventually, especially after Kamat joined the BJP and fielded Damodar for the post.
The ‘A Class’ Margao Municipality has witnessed an eventful month of political drama since the previous Chairperson Lyndon Pereira stepped down on August 26.
As per the verbal agreement between Goa Forward Party (Vijai Sardesai) and Model Margao (Digambar Kamat), a councillor from the Kamat camp was supposed to succeed Pereira. However, Kamat defected to the BJP on September 14 and faced an embarrassing setback when his candidate Damodar Shirodkar was defeated by independent candidate Ghanashyam Shirodkar, who was supported by Sardesai. Within 72 hours, however, 15 BJP councillors backed by Kamat moved a no-confidence motion against Ghanshyam, who resigned from the post before it was passed.
