Denies Cong surge in LS polls behind his move
TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
MARGAO: Goa Vikas Party leader Mickky Pacheco seemed willing to wait for Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar to honour the pre-election “promise” of a reward for supporting the BJP candidate in the Lok Sabha polls.
But, the flamboyant Nuvem MLA appears moving in great haste to tie up loose ends and strengthen his base in his constituency which saw a Congress surge in the just concluded Lok Sabha poll. Mickky is bracing up to open two well furnished offices in Loutolim and Nuvem within a week to take the administration to the people – after the Lok Sabha results showed a return of the Congress in these villages.
Mickky’s plan to open offices in Nuvem and Loutolim also signals a message to his political detractors that he wants to stay put in Nuvem at least for some time now. This assumes significance and comes against the backdrop of speculations that Mickky may shift and contest the coming Assembly poll from Cortalim constituency.
“I have no plans to abandon Nuvem and go to Cortalim. I will re-contest from Nuvem. People of Nuvem constituency had elected me and I will re-contest from the same constituency”, he asserted.
Mickky scotched off rumours that he plans to open the two offices in Nuvem and Loutolim villages in view of the Congress surge in the Lok Sabha poll. “No doubt, I and my supporters had worked for the BJP’s success in Nuvem and we have succeeded to a large extent. Perhaps for the first time, the BJP has managed to cross the 5000 vote figure in Nuvem, when the party had in the past struggled to get past 1500 votes. My decision to open the offices has no relation to the Congress surge. You have to understand that Nuvem is a Catholic dominated constituency where the BJP enjoys little or no following. That the Congress has polled sizeable votes does not mean that the people have gone back to the party”, Mickky said.
The Lok Sabha poll statistic, however, revealed that the BJP-Mickky combine was pushed to the background, with the Congress flag flying high once again in both Nuvem and Loutolim villages. That his trusted aide from Nuvem, Zilla Panchayat member, Wilfred D’Sa had thrown his weight behind the Congress in the Lok sabha poll, must have sent a signal to the GVP chief that he needs to strengthen his base in Nuvem since Wilfred might be a contender for the Congress ticket in the coming Assembly polls.
That explains his plan to not just open the two offices by deploying adequate manpower to man them, but Mickky has drawn up plan to personally visit the offices once a week to attend to public grievances.
“Senior citizens and the people from these villages need not come to my office with small matters. They can get them addressed right in their villages”, he added.
Incidentally, Mickky said he has nothing to say with Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar’s announcement to effect a reshuffle around September. ‘The Chief Minister had made a promise and I expect Parrikar to honour the promise. Let him take his time. One has got to understand that the GVP is a partner in the alliance government. We will continue to offer our support to the BJP-led government”, he said.
Political observers say that while Mickky may wait for Parrikar to honour the so-called “promise”, the Nuvem MLA would certainly want the Chief Minister to take up Nuvem’s development, aware that only development would keep him in good stead politically in the changing political scenario.
