The Bhandari samaj is important to all political parties in the State, and what happens within the community is viewed carefully by the politicians. It is also ambitious. Recall the time a few months earlier, when the factions came together, to pointed media questions of whether the community wants a chief minister from the Bhnadari Samaj in the future, Minister Jayesh Salgaonkar replied in the affirmative, though other community leaders preferred to remain non-committal on the issue. The community numbers around five lakh persons in the State, a sizeable vote bank, even if the political affiliations are spread among all parties. For even a small shift in the voting pattern can make a significant change in the fortunes of a politician. So when the top functionary of a political party loses the elections to the samaj presidentship, there are eyebrows raised.
Anil Hoble is vice-president of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Goa, has been at helm of the Goa Bhandari Samaj for nine years, nurses political ambitions and a long time ago – in the 2002 Assembly elections – came close to winning in St Cruz, but lost by 40 votes. He has been defeated three times in this constituency. And now, after having led the Goa Bhandari Samaj for almost a decade, has lost the elections to the samaj president by a margin of 78 votes. And he’s angry. Hoble has lashed out at the grouping of politicians, that included ministers and MLAs, who he said got together to ensure his defeat, claiming that it was he who, without political power, managed to do more for the samaj than those holding the reins of power in the State. Despite being a BJP functionary, Hoble named BJP stalwarts for working to ensure his defeat in the elections.
BJP, however, is not seeing this as a defeat despite its vice president losing, arguing that the poll was not fought on party lines and was purely a samaj election. Besides, as pointed out, five of the top committee positions are occupied by BJP members. But does that convey a victory for the BJP? Hardly, for the winning panel did not have only the BJP’s backing.
The defeated candidate is not wrong when he blames politicians for his defeat. There was a closing of political ranks in this samaj election, when politicians of the BJP, Congress and Goa Forward came together seeking a change in the community leadership. The grouping of politicians was quite vocal on the demand for a change in leadership. Yet, the samaj that in July saw two groups uniting to form one association, appears to be fairly evenly divided, as can be seen by the results of the elections, where out of an eligible 3998 voters, 2667 voted and the two contenders for the post – Hoble and eventual winner Ashok Naik – both got over 1200 votes each. While Naik walked away victorious with 1283 votes, Hoble managed 1205, the difference a paltry 78.
The elections were hard fought, as can be seen by the counting that took two days and the scenes of jubilation when the results were finally declared. Despite almost the entire political force arraigned against him, Hoble still managed to poll a very large number of votes, which only proves that the Bhandari community is not as united as the political class would want it to be, so as to tap the voting potential.
In the July meeting, though there was clarity on the fact that though the association is not a political entity, it was admitted that it was meant to prepare for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and that development issues would be put before the people of the community in the run-up to the elections. The political class may have managed to get the change in leadership, but the unity of the factions remains a big question mark, given the close victory and the charges being traded.
