Four nominations were received for the post, but councillors Sadanand Naik and Laxmikant Kamat withdrew their nominations. The election process was presided over by officer Y B Tavde and MMC Chief Officer Naveen Laxman. The chairperson’s post had fallen vacant when seven councillors filed a no-confidence motion against Gonzaco Rebello.
As D’Silva took office and Naveen was called for discussions a verbal spat erupted between the chairperson and the chief officer over the inspection of the municipality premises. Sharp allegations were levelled by the chief officer, some of which were of corruption in the chairperson’s office. By evening all appeared to have been settled between the two.
After winning, D’Silva explained how he would go about with completing the works that had been held up. “Former Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar had promised Rs 50 crore for the development of Margao, which couldn’t be pursued, a major reason being that Margao is being looked after by two opposition MLAs. I have full confidence that the defence minister will manage to somehow give us the money promised,” D’Silva said.
He added, “We want the chief officer to be permanently posted at MMC. I will call on the DMA for that.”
As expected Naik was the first to withdraw his nomination followed by Kamat. The final result was 11 votes for D’Silva and 9 votes for Shirodker This is D’Silva’s second stint in the chairperson’s chair.
