Team Herald
MARGAO: In a first in Goan politics, civic body councillors, and not MLAs have been whisked away and housed in a beach resort ahead of the election for the Chairperson of the Margao Municipal Council, to prevent poaching and last-minute crossovers.
All 16 BJP councillors, including Raju Naik who had been inducted into the party on Monday, have been camping at a luxury resort in coastal Salcete since Monday evening, until the election scheduled on October 12. While the BJP leadership has been tight-lipped about their choice of candidate for the post, sources say they have settled on councillor Damodar Shirodkar, a close aide of Margao MLA Digambar Kamat, for the post.
Reliable sources have informed Herald that soon after the election for the Chairperson post, Dipali Sawal is going to step down from the post of Vice-Chairperson making way for a councillor from the Fatorda BJP camp.
Presently, all eyes are on BJP’s chairperson candidate, who has not filed his nomination yet due to the secrecy surrounding the entire process. While councillor Sadanand Naik has expressed interest in taking charge of the civic body, sources say that the BJP will again field Damodar Shirodkar who had lost to ‘independent councillor’ Ghanashyam Shirodkar in the previous secret-ballot election in September, by 15-10 votes. “The party leadership has not yet revealed to us the name of the councillor chosen to head the civic body. However, the concerned councillor will file his nomination papers on October 11,” a BJP councillor told Herald. “All this is being done to avoid the embarrassment the BJP faced recently,” he added.
He also said that the party leadership has decided to give an opportunity to a BJP councillor from Fatorda, and former MLA Damodar Naik’s camp. Two names have been short listed; both from a minority community- Camilo Barreto and Milagrena Gomes.
Sources say that Barreto is most likely to be the next vice-chairperson of the civic body.
