Team Herald
PANJIM: For the first time in 25 years, BJP faced a humiliating defeat in its traditional stronghold Panjim as Congress’ Atanasio (Babush) Monserrate emerged victorious in the by-poll result declared on Thursday.
BJP’s Sidharth Kuncalienker, who in the past two elections in 2015 by-election and 2017 general assembly election – managed to retain BJP’s prestigious seat had to bite the dust this time. The seat, held by former chief minister (late) Manohar Parrikar since 1994 was considered BJP’s strong base even after he was elevated to the Centre in November 2014 and later returned to his home State in March 2017.
The 2019 by-poll however came as a shock to the BJP. Monserrate secured 8,748 votes while Kuncalienker polled 6,990. What’s interesting is that not only Monserrate polled more than Kuncalienker’s total votes in 2017, his victory margin of 1,758 is also more than Kuncalienker’s 2017’s winning margin of 1069 votes.
Even though a lot was spoken about two other candidates with ‘clean image’ Goa Surakha Manch’s Subhash Velingkar and Aam Admi Party’s Valmiki Naik, the entire focus all through the counting was on Monserrate and Kuncalienker. Another reason for that was BJP’s hype around the rape charge against Monserrate and the rape survivor’s sudden disappearance. She emerged a day after Panjim by-election.
An elated Monserrate took a dig at BJP after his victory as he tried to corner BJP over Parrikar’s absence. “The result clearly shows that negativity never wins. There were comments that Panjim will not be safe for women. The result shows Panjim is safe and Taleigao has been safe for women for last 17 years. People know the loot taken place in Panjim. Most important Bhai (Parrikar) factor plays a big role, now they (BJP) know what the importance of Bhai is,” he said.
When asked about his promise on the removal of casinos, he said, “Wait and watch, I will take the off shore casinos out of River Mandovi.”
On the other hand, a dejected Kuncalienker has said he takes full responsibility for the defeat.
