MARGAO: There was a major shakeup in the corridors of power at the Margao Municipal Council (MMC) with the Chairperson Damodar Shirodkar confirming that he intended to submit his resignation from the post on Monday.
“I am unhappy with the injustice meted to me by my senior leaders,” said Shirodkar. He made it clear he was discontent with the recent actions of Margao MLA Digambar Kamat.
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It may be recalled that Shirodkar had been elected to the post in controversial fashion last year in October, nearly a month after the Margao MLA had defected to the BJP from Congress along with the Margao group of councillors.
Incidentally, a day before this sudden decision, Shirodkar, during his address to the media after the MMC meeting, was quite emphatic in praising his own performance as Chairperson, against the backdrop of allegations of financial and administrative irregularities within the civic body.
However, the irate Chairperson was singing a different tune on Saturday morning.
Shirodkar said that he was upset with the Margao MLA for his decision to hold a meeting with the Chief Officer (CO) and engineers of the Municipality without intimating him about the said meeting or keeping him posted about what took place at the meeting. He added that he will submit his resignation on Monday.
On the other hand, Kamat downplayed his meeting with MMC officials and said he had done so to look into the functioning of the municipality and works under progress.
Sources said that recent allegations against the council regarding development works being delayed and the Urban Development Department’s directive to the civic body to halt its recruitment process, were discussed at this meeting. Sources added that after this meeting, the MLA had an informal lunch with the staff at a hotel in Margao.
Earlier in the day, the Margao MLA along with certain councillors and contractors conducted an onsite inspection of development works being carried out across Margao, said sources. The Chairperson was not invited.
Sources added that the trigger was when Shirodkar was finally informed about the meeting but was simultaneously pulled up for a few recent decisions of the civic body that were widely criticised. Chairperson Damodar was upset that he was being questioned directly, after excluding him from the discussions where he could have had his say.
Later in the day, it was revealed that at least three councillors had reached out to Shirodkar personally to hear him out and ask him not to go ahead with his resignation plans. Councillors Mahesh Amonkar and Raju Naik (Paklo) also informally stated that they will try to convince Shirodkar not to resign on Monday and to wait and sort things out through talks.
Further, sources said MLA Kamat was unhappy that Shirodkar had informed the media about his plans to resign and would have preferred that the matter had not been revealed to the public.
Interestingly, before Shirodkar’s resignation announcement to the media, there was conjecture that a group of 5-6 councillors were planning to leave the ruling camp.
