MARGAO: Madgaonkars and locals reacted to Digambar Kamat’s “loss” in the MMC elections immediately after joining the BJP, by referring to his “connection with God” narrative that he chose to justify his leaving the Congress and joining the BJP.
Many councillors literally echoed these words that, “God has turned his back on Digambar Kamat and it is a result of what he has done a few days back”
Interestingly, Kamat did not comment on the result of the secret ballot, except to say, “What can I say about a secret ballot? I cannot even comment on which councillors have cross-voted.”
However, it was observed that Goa Forward Party and others put up a united front to checkmate the Margao MLA. GFP President and Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai said “People’s sentiments are unshakable and now stronger. The torch has been lit at Margao for a revolution that will overthrow the despicable model of politics adopted by the ruling party.”
He also said that he urged Chief Minister Pramod Sawant not to engage in the politics of bringing a no-confidence motion against the newly-elected Chairperson of Margao Municipality, and instead help by giving support to the crumbling Margao city.
To this, Kamat retorted, “Who can stop anybody showing political interest in Margao, or contesting the future elections in this constituency?”
Soon after the result, locals and even a few councillors remarked, “Now, God has turned his back on Digambar Kamat.”
Margao resident Shailesh Raiturkar told Herald that the result is a perfect reply to Kamat from God. “He failed the acid test,” he added.
Reliable sources said that many of the councillors from the Kamat group and nine from the original set of councillors, were not in favour of Damodar Shirodkar, who was chosen by the Margao MLA to succeed Lyndon Perreira as chairperson. But, till Thursday night, the BJP, on paper, had the support of almost 15 councillors, which was enough to cruise through the election.
It may be recalled that Ghanashyam Shirodkar, the new chairperson of the civic body, was part of the ‘Model Margao’ panel formed by Kamat during the last Municipal elections.
However, he split from the group, claiming that Kamat
had failed to take him into confidence while selecting the councillors to take charge of
the civic body initially. Since then, the Margao MLA and Ghanashyam have been at odds with each other.
