VASCO: Last month’s Zilla Panchayat election has acted as a wakeup call to politicians in Mormugao taluka. No one other than Dabolim MLA Mauvin Godinho and Pernem MLA and former Vasco MLA Rajendra Arlekar understand this wake up call better.
While Godinho’s candidate Gilbert Mariano won the Sancoale ZP seat, the MLA lost his hold over Chicalim that helped him win the Dabolim seat in the 2012 Assembly elections. In Chicalim the winner was former sarpanch Francisco Nunes (Shikeet) who has taken a majority of Godinho’s Dabolim voters. Ditto in Pernem where Arlekar’s candidate lost to Independent Tukaram Harmalkar who enjoys MGP support.
The speculation is that Arlekar could be returning home for the 2017 polls, as could Godinho moving back to the Cortalim seat. Carlos Almeida, currently the Vasco MLA, may try his luck from Dabolim should Arlekar return to his hometown.
“Pednekars influence voting in Vasco and Mormugao, the same way Vasco decides the fate of Pernem,” said former MMC chairperson and current councillor Manesh Arolkar.
It is this connection that has helped Arlekar migrate from cosmopolitan Vasco to the Bhandari and backward dominated Pernem constituency. A string of reversals, including the increase in MGP votes in Pernem, is now cutting into Arlekar’s votes.
In Vasco an anti-incumbency wave building up against BJP’s Almeida, following a string of broken promises, which could be one reason why Almeida may opt to shift from Vasco to Dabolim where he enjoys support in the New Vaddem locality in the latter constituency. “The kind of projects Almeida has conceptualised in Dabolim constituency makes us to believe so,” a senior BJP leader from Vasco said.
The forthcoming municipal elections would shed more light on the political game at play in Vasco, where the three MLAs may test their political strength through their nominees. Sources in the DMA said the Council will now have 25 wards instead of 20. Sources said that the three MLAs are attempting to have these wards reserved for either women or other reservations to strengthen their position.
Though the 2017 elections are two years away, there are growing concerns within the BJP with regard to the four constituencies. “If there is 33 per cent reservation for women, four seats will automatically go to women in South Goa. Our fear is that we have not many strong women candidates anywhere,” a senior BJP functionary said.
While the Parivartan wave of 2012 sent three BJP MLAs (of which two have been made cabinet ministers and the third chairman of KTC, there has been no change in the lives of the people and there’s dissension.
When sought their comments on their reported plans of shifting to other constituencies for the 2017 Assembly polls, all the three MLAs dismissed this as mere ‘speculation’ and ‘rumour.’ “There is no reason for me to leave Vasco and contest from some other seat. I have done enough development and all my projects are not only Vasco centric. This is enough to get elected for another term from Vasco,” he said.
Sources close to Almeida, however, confirmed that all is not well and there could be a change in the future because of the infighting in the BJP Vasco unit, where some senior and junior leaders do not enjoy a good rapport with Almeida. This distance further grew after Almeida replaced BJP leader and councillor Krishna Salkar as chairman of MPDA.
Though Godinho enjoyed support in New Vaddem, Chicalim and Bogmalo of Dabolim constituency, in the last few months there has been some change in the support which leads political observers to believe that Godinho is setting up base in Cortalim. His extending support to Mariano in the ZP polls is a clear sign that Godinho would keep open the option of reverting to the Cortalim seat till last.
