MARGAO: The Margao Civic Alliance that controls the ruling panel of councillors at the Margao Municipal Council (MMC) had suffered a minor setback last week when one of the Goa Forward Party (GFP) councillor, Sweta Lotlikar joined BJP.
Reportedly, Margao Civic Alliance consists of the councillors who were elected on the Model Margao panel backed by Margao Congress MLA Digambar Kamat and the councillors who were elected on the GFP panel backed by Fatorda GFP MLA Vijai Sardesai. The same alliance had controlled the earlier MMC panel in its previous tenure as well. In this tenure, GFP’s Lyndon Pereira is the Chairperson and it has been smooth sailing so far although some councillors of the Margao Model camp had expressed reservations that they were not selected for the post but nonetheless offered their support to Pereira.
The BJP-backed panel had won only seven of the 25-member MMC panel while the GFP panel had nine and the Congress panel had seven.
With Lotlikar joining BJP, their numbers increase although it’s yet to make a big impact given the majority Pereira enjoys at the moment.
