MARGAO, NOV 10
Chief Minister Digambar Kamat may have had his way with the proposal to install Sushila Naik as the next Chairperson of the 20-member Margao Municipal Council.
But, many a Councillor-elect in the Congress camp appears not happy with Sushila’s candidature and have accepted the proposal so as not to antagonise the chief minister.
In fact, many a Councillor-elect admits in private that they were hoping that the chief minister would settle in favour of former Councillor Dayanand Deulkar, belonging to the OBC community. “We were certain that the candidature of Doris Texeira would not find favour with the CM as this being the election year. But, certainly we thought the privilege would go to Deulkar as he too was a close confidante of the chief minister,” remarked a councillor-elect.
Interestingly, a councillor-elect from the OBC community said that the chief minister has settled for a Saraswat to head the civic body when nearly half-a-dozen members belong to the powerful Bandari Samaj.
Sources in the know said that the chief minister was aware of the lobbying by a member of the OBC community to the top post, but put his foot down in favour of Sushila till the Assembly polls.
Sources further said that Dayanand Deulkar at the helms of affairs would have been more acceptable to them given his accessibility, but hastened to add that they preferred to accept the Chief Minister’s decision to avoid bad blood in the Congress camp, more so when they are assured that Sushila and Gonzaco would occupy the posts for one year.
Incidentally, the overwhelming majority given to the Digambar-Sardesai camps too appears to have come in the way of maneuvering for the Councilors-elect on power sharing. With Sardessai giving his full support of his five-member group to the Chief Minister to form the next Council, there was little or no room left for maneuvering or manipulation for the aspirants, at least for the moment.
Taken together, both Kamat and Sardessai has enjoy the support of nearly 17-18 Councilors-elect in the 20-member body, thus virtually ruling out the possibility of any third group coming to power, at least before the next Assembly polls.
Observes say the fate of the Margao Municipal Chairperson would largely depend on how long the honeymoon between the Chief Minister Digambar Kamat and GPCC general secretary Vijay Sardessai lasts as the later has set his eyes firmly on Fatorda and would expect Kamat to back him to the hilt, as evident by the long list of Fatorda-centric demands placed by Sardesai with the Chief Minister.
