TEAM HERALD
PONDA: Indirectly hinting at MGP’s growing base in Ponda city, Ponda MLA Lavoo Mamledar has claimed that most councillors elected from the Ponda Citizens Committee (PCC) during the recent Ponda Municipal Council (PMC) elections are affiliated to the MGP.
It may be recalled that PCC, a panel floated by the MGP-BJP coalition, secured an absolute majority by winning 11 of the 14 seats. Later, the two independent councillors extended their conditional support to the PCC. The lone councillor affiliated to Ponda Vikas Samiti (PVS) is in the opposition.
Incidentally, Mamledar was earlier reluctant to declare the number of elected candidates affiliated to MGP and BJP.
When prodded, the Ponda MLA while interacting with reporters on Tuesday said, “As per a seat-sharing agreement, MGP had fielded candidates in eight wards, while BJP were given six wards.”
“Of the eight seats, MGP-backed candidates emerged victorious in seven wards, while four were won by candidates affiliated to BJP,” said Mamledar.
However, Mamledar declined to comment further on MGP’s rising base in the city, claiming that the PCC was an MGP-BJP coalition.
According to information, the MGP-backed candidate was chosen for the chairperson’s post, while the BJP-backed candidate for the deputy chairperson’s post.
When asked whether there is any agreement on the tenure of chairperson’s post, Mamledar said: “We haven’t decided on this aspect as yet. We expect the new council to function smoothly and there won’t be any change in chairperson as long as there are no complaints.”
“Since the chairperson’s post was reserved for woman, we already had in mind Dr Radhika Naik, who was earlier the chairperson of PMC. Dr Naik was from the list of MGP-backed candidates,” he said.
