Battle for Margao has a twist in the caste

JULIO D’SILVA

julio@herald-goa.com

MARGAO: Denials notwithstanding, the move to promote Pooja Naik as chairperson of Margao Municipal Council (MMC) is being perceived as a move by Goa Forward Party (GFP) supremo Vijai Sardesai to woo the Bhandari Samaj that forms a substantial voting population in the town.

Although the Bhandari Samaj forms over 30 per cent of the voter base in Margao, the constituency has always been represented by a member of the Goud Saraswat Brahmin community. In fact, Margao has had just three MLAs – Babu Naik, Uday Bhembre and Digambar Kamat.

Ironically, MMC, since it was formed, despite having members of the Bhandari Samaj elected as councillors, has never had a member of the community taking over the reins as chairperson. The only one who came close to any position of power at MMC, was Sadanand Naik alias Paklo, who was elected as vice chairperson.

Given this background, promoting Pooja Naik to the chairperson’s post, to replace Dr Babita Angle who is a GSB, is seen as a move to woo the Bhandari Samaj, though Sardesai asserts he is just giving a young, new and fresh face an opportunity and says it is a coincidence that she belongs to that community.

The choice, however, for the GFP is limited, as this post is reserved for women, and of the four lady councilors affiliated to the party, Angle has resigned as chairperson, while Clara Fernandes has moved away from the group. That leaves Zita Crasto and Pooja Naik eligible for the post.

However, as Crasto is professionally busy with her stall in the new market, it was decided to make Pooja Naik chairperson, who, if elected, would be youngest chairperson of MMC as she was 21 when she was elected to the council four years ago.

GFP spokesperson Prashant Naik, denying that his party was playing the caste card, pointed out that two of their three MLAs belong to the Bhandari Samaj. “Rather than the caste issue, I think people should appreciate the fact that we are giving a young person an opportunity to rule the town and we are taking administration to the younger generation,” Prashant Naik said.

Not everyone would agree with this. The entire game being played at MMC is perceived as Sardesai jostling for a political base in the very dynamic, yet emotionally volatile, Salcete taluka that elects eight MLAs to the Legislative Assembly.

The matter exploded on November 7, when MMC met and the councillors were discussing the minutes of the previous meeting held on July 30 wherein the resolution No. 4874 Item No. 4 was taken up for discussion.

The resolution read: “Shri Glen Andrade said that it has been two years since the iconic Opinion Poll Square has been opened to the public and hosted many successful events. As such there was a need to commemorate the Father of the Opinion Poll Dr Jack de Sequeira. He suggested that Margao Municipal Council install a statue of Dr Jack de Sequeira at the traffic island near Ravindra Bhavan at Fatorda.”

Councillors backed by Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party took objection to this, asserting that they were not opposed to installing a statue of Sequeira per se, but were objecting to the manner in which the proposal is being rushed through.

This resulted in 14 councillors coming together and demanding the resignation of MMC chairperson

Angle tendered her resignation on November 8, thus paving the way for a new chairperson to be elected.

BJP member and councillor Rupesh Mahatme said they were objecting to the procedure followed. “MMC has to take permissions from all concerned authorities, including DMA, PWD and Collector as it is on the main road,” he said.

Former vice chairperson Doris Texeira, who belongs to the Congress, also objected stating that procedures were not followed. “We were not given brief facts about the matter, nor was it discussed at the MMC meeting but abruptly appeared in the minutes,” she said, adding that instead of giving the work to any particular person, tenders should be invited.

However, while Congress and BJP councillors came together to demand Angle’s resignation, they cannot come together to form the council as both camps claim they do not have the numbers and it will be left to Sardesai, who has 11 councillors, to decide who will be the next chairperson. He will have to depend on two councillors from the other group, who are leaning towards GFP, to give his candidate victory.