MARGAO: Goa Vikas Party supremo Mickky Pacheco’s plan to field party candidates in the two Zilla Panchayat constituencies of Cortalim and Sancoale in BJP-represented Cortalim Assembly constituency has gone haywire.
Environment Minister Alina Saldanha, who is representing the Cortalim Assembly constituency, has maintained that the BJP would in no way concede the two seats of Cortalim and Sancoale either to the GVP or any other party. “No way, we will concede the two seats to the GVP or any other party. We have already zeroed in the party candidates to contest the two seats. Their candidature will be soon announced by the party leadership”, Alina told Herald on Tuesday.
In fact, the Environment Minister has said that the BJP has already started its campaign in right earnest in both Cortalim and Sancoale by meeting whoever that mattered in the two constituencies.
Sources told Herald that GVP supremo Mickky Pacheco on Tuesday called on BJP general secretary Satish Dhond at the Dabolim airport before the latter left for Delhi. During discussions, it is learnt that Dhond has told the GVP supremo not to eye on Cortalim and Sancoale ZP constituencies with Alina insisting on fielding party candidates in both the constituencies.
Mickky told Herald on Tuesday evening that he has discussed threadbare the seat sharing arrangement with BJP general secretary Satish Dhond in constituencies in Salcete and Mormugao. “While the BJP has left the GVP to field candidates in most of the constituencies in Salcete, the BJP leadership has insisted on fielding their party candidates in both Cortalim and Sancoale”, Mickky said.
Alina’s insistence on fielding party candidates in Cortalim and Sancoale may leave the GVP in the cold. In the 2012 Assembly polls, the GVP candidate Nelly Rodrigues had come very close in upsetting late Matanhy Saldanha’s apple cart. There are reports that Nelly, who is re-contesting the ensuing ZP poll from her Colva constituency, is preparing ground to contest the coming Assembly election in 2017.
