TEAM HERALD
MARGAO: With incumbent Margao Municipal Chairperson Dayanand Deulkar completing six months in office, the Margao Civic body may finally see yet another change in guard since the last three years and half of its formation.
So far, the Margao civic body have already seen three Chairpersons – Sushila Nayak, Arthur D’Silva and Dayanand Deulkar. And, going by the reports doing the rounds in the corridors of the civic body, a new Chairperson replacing Deulkar is not ruled out in the immediate future.
As per an agreement within the ruling group, Dayanand Deulkar was supposed to head the Civic body for a period of six months. Sources in the ruling MMC group said Deulkar’s six month tenure has expired and he is expected to call a meeting of his group of city fathers before stepping down from office.
Though the group had then told the media that Councillor Sadanand Naik would succeed Deulkar, it is still not clear whether the group would honour the agreement or would zero in on another Councillor to succeed Deulkar.
What’s significant to note is that Deulkar’s tenure has come to an end at a time against the backdrop of the ruling group extending support to the South Goa BJP candidate Narendra Sawaikar in the just concluded Lok Sabha poll. While nine Councillors had publicly extended their support to Sawaikar’s candidature in the presence of Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, the husband wife duo of Sadanand-Babita Naik were conspicuous by their absence.
It’s not known whether the 10-member ruling group that has supported the BJP candidate would back Sadanand’s candidature or whether they would prop up a new councillor to succeed Deulkar.
