Team Herald
CANACONA: The two councillors of ex-MLA Vijai Pai Khot’s panel, who had left the State due to immense pressure on them to leave Khot and join the BJP panel, returned to Goa on Monday, but were forced to head back to Karnataka as the BJP allegedly continued to hound them.
Newly elected councillor Shyam Sundar Desai said that they are on a tour with wellwishers due to the constant pressure fom the BJP government to switch sides. He added that they had reached Kholapur, Maharastra after a stay in Belgaum, Karnataka.
According to some councillor that it became a tradition of CMC elected councillors to go in to hibernation. All eyes however are on November 8 where the councillors have to take official oath ceremony followed to prove the majority to elect chairperson and vice chairperson on November 12. The horse trading is going on at CMC where five candidates of the panels floated by ex-MLA Vijay Pai Khot and Sports Minister Ramesh Tawadkar. The panels floated by the duo are short of majority to form their own group.
At the municipal elections on Sunday, the joint panel of Khot and ex-MLA Isidore Fernandes won five wards of Canacona, BJP MLA Ramesh Tawadkar’s panel won three, while independents won the last two. Horse trading is presently going on, as both Khot/Isidore and the BJP want the CMC in their hands.
It was learnt that Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar and Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar are in contact with the two independents and also with candidates from Khot’s panel. Tawadkar confirmed that they are negotiation with at least two candidates presently.
Soiru Komarpant, whose wife Bharathi Komarpant was elected and is from Khot’s group, is allegedly being asked to switch sides by Parsekar and Parrikar. He added that he had sworn in the temple of Lord Mallikarjun at Shristall that he will stand by Khot’s panel and will not allow his wife to become a betrayer.
Many prominent Canacona residents feel that the elected councilors should support the BJP government so that the development takes swiftly.
Meanwhile, as the CMC chairperson’s post is reserved for women, only three candidates are in the fray. Director of Municipal Administration Elvis Gomes said that in the event of a tie, the chairperson’s post will be decided by the presiding officers through lots. The same procedure will be employed for the vice chairpersons’s post.
According to Canacona Returning Officer and Deputy Collector Chandrakant Shetkar the oath-taking ceremony will be held on Nov 8, while the panels will prove their majority to elect the chairperson and vice chairperson on November 12.
Also, in a significant development that has evoked strong criticism, councillor from the BJP panel Kishore Shet was given a bath in milk by his relatives as part of a religious thanksgiving for getting elected. While Shet has played down the controversy and questioned the logic behind the criticism, he said that it was done by his wellwishers as part of his victory celebrations and that it was a routine ceremony to thank God.
