PONDA: For locals, Ponda taluka is at the epicenter of the upcoming Zilla Panchayat (ZP) elections with talks of an alliance with MGP and Congress on one side, and heavy campaigning by political leaders from the MGP, Congress and BJP on the other side.
Against that backdrop, locals feel that the election fever has truly set in this taluka and it will be a close fight between the three parties. Talks of alliance between MGP and Congress are reminiscent of what happened for the Lok Sabha elections where Congress South Goa MP Francisco Sardinha received the support of MGP and emerged triumphant.
However, there appears to be conflicting statements on the ground for the ZP election regarding the formation of such an alliance.
Even though, both the two parties have expressed their willingness to the media to support each other and defeat BJP, there is no clarity if the two parties have spoken to each other directly.
This came to light during the visit of Ponda Congress MLA Ravi Naik who had accompanied Prachi Naik and other Congress workers during the filing of her nomination papers.
When asked by media persons if there is any alliance with MGP, Naik revealed that he has no knowledge about the same. He further added that Congress has a strong base in Curti ZP constituency.
“We have large number of supporters and our candidate is strong and educated. We are hundred per cent sure of victory. There is no question of withdrawing support to any party,” Naik added.
It is to be noted that Curti ZP constituency is comprised of Curti Khandepar panchayat and Verem Vagurme panchayat. The former is part of Ponda constituency, while the latter is part of Priol constituency. Political experts said that there will be a tough fight given that all three parties have a good number of supporters in Curti.
Last time Curti seat was won by MGP, which was part of the erstwhile government and Lavoo Mamledar was the Ponda MGP MLA and MGP’s Deepak Dhavalikar was the Priol MLA. This time the equation has changed with Ravi Naik as the Congress Ponda MLA and Govind Gaude as the Independent MLA from Priol who is a minister of the ruling BJP government.
However, MGP President Dhavalikar is confident of MGP repeating victory this time as well.
On the other side, BJP has filed the nomination of Sanjana Naik for the Curti ZP seat. Art and Culture Minister Gaude, who was present at the time of Sanjana filing her nomination along with other BJP supporters, expressed his support to all BJP candidates in the ZP elections. He further said he is confident that BJP would win the Curti seat.
