His Navelim counterpart and Fisheries Minister Avertano Furtado, however, has neither fielded a candidate nor has announced his support to any particular candidate for the Navelim seat.
The Velim MLA made his presence felt at the office of the Returning Officer as the Assolna Sarpanch filed her nomination paper for the seat. He later told the media that he has no hand in the reservation of the Velim seat for OBC women. “They were pointing accusing fingers at me for the reservation fiasco. I had only made a request to remove Chinchinim from the coastal belt with a suggestion to carve out a new constituency out of Chinchinim, Dramapur-Sirlim and Sarzora, but they have done exactly the opposite”, Benjamin said. He said the opposition has fielded candidates to split the votes, but exuded confidence people will
vote for Pedrina.
