BASURI DESAI
Pernem is right next to the Chief Minister’s constituency. And it has the number two in the cabinet, Rajendra Arlekar representing it. And yet, Pernem tops the list of BJP’s vulnerable constituencies.
Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) has always contested this constituency and secured a fixed vote bank. MGP also has represented Pernem constituency twice after Goa’s statehood.
A day-long chats with various people in Pernem have concluded that people do not know why they didn’t vote for Azgaonkar but most of them maintained it was for change.
“We have voted for BJP last time because we wanted a change without even knowing who Rajendra Arlekar is,” said P Shetkar, a Pernem resident.
This is the response Herald received from people residing in the Municipal area, which is considered to be a town where various government offices are situated at a walking distance.
Besides one municipality this constituency has 12 village panchayats which are far away from the town and some of them are situated on the Goa-Maharashtra border.
After statehood Pernem constituency was with MGP for two terms and after that it was represented by Congress for two tenures and BJP won the seat for the last two terms.
People are raising one large issue of the Pernem town which is not changed for the last 20 years. People have even complained that the recently inaugurated KTC bus stand is at a wrong place which, according to them, will increase the congestion.
The people in remote villages have no much grievance but some credit is given to Azgaonkar for the good roads and regular water supply when he was a minister.
Another resident of Nagzar, Devu Parab, said that the new Tenancy Amendment Act has to be reverted back as it has affected most of the people in villages. “We will vote for the person who assures that he will take up the issue of poor people and this issue is close to MG party”, he said.
This constituency has total 31600 voters spread across 12 village panchayats and one municipality, with approximate 48% Maratha samaj, 29% Bhandari Samaj, 6% scheduled cast and the rest consisting of others.
Though cast politics is not witnessed in recent times in history it was one of the main keys of the winning candidate.
