Time may have changed the manner in which elections are planned and fought but there is one thing which never goes out of fashion – the good old election campaign. Of course stringent curbs by the Election Commission has tempered the colour and the bustle of old, but the old style people to people contact and corner meetings have made campaigning more personal. Herald hits the campaign highway to bring to you sights and sounds of candidates on the campaign trail in a daily series called ON THE HIGHWAY TO POWER
Fitness & Facebook before the media man hits the campaign trail
VRISHANK MAHATME
It’s 7.00 am and in Saligao Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate Vittal (Pradeep) Padgaonkar, a former TV journalist starts his day early. After a set of routine exercises he logs on to facebook and then checks the messages on Whatsapp. By 8 am he is set to travel to Guirim on his campaign trail.
“I leave my house at around 8.30 am. Today I will campaign in Guirim for the second time. I always coordinate with my volunteers a day earlier. AAP had started campaigning in October 2016 and my volunteers and I have covered Sangolda, Saligao, Pilerne, Reis-Magos and Nerul once and now we will return to these for a second time.”
As Padgaonkar reaches the meeting point, 11 of his party volunteers are already present and ready to accompany him.
Sharp at 9.30 am Padgaonkar starts his door-to-door campaign in Guirim, where people welcome him and also share their problems which have not seen any solutions till now.
Padgaonkar says, “My approach, while campaigning, is different from the other parties. I keep the Delhi model and the non-corrupt party tag in front of the people and have received a positive response. I am sure I will win with a margin of 3000 votes.”
Between homemade refreshments and tea served to the volunteers, at around 1.45 pm, volunteers return home for lunch as neither meals nor allowance is provided.
After the lunch break campaigning begins at 3.15 pm again as more AAP volunteers join the group.
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When the boy ‘next door’ comes calling
He’s dropped in next door, and in Goa this means that he’s an ‘outsider’ even if three panchayats of Saligao are a part of erstwhile Calangute
Agnelo Fernandes, who started campaigning late, is running out of time. It’s 10 am and Fernandes, along with 20 volunteers, begin his door-to-door visits in the narrow lanes of Guirim where he receives a good response.
“This is the second day of campaigning and today I will cover Guirim. The mood in the constituency is changing and people are coming back to the Congress,” he says.
Fernandes, along with supporters, urges the people for change as in the past no development had been done. “I approach the people on the basis of development which has not happened in the last five years.”
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Minister starts the day with exercise, hopes it’s not in futility
Two-time BJP MLA and Minister Dilip Parulekar starts his day early at 6.00 am at Saligao with few exercises and at 8 am his supporters and people are already at his residence some to discuss their problems, others to join him on the campaign.
At 8.30 am his driver is ready to take him to Nerul, where he plans door-to-door visits. As he reaches the place, already around 15 volunteers are waiting for him. At 9 am as Parulekar begins his campaign more people join and the campaign takes form.
During his visits Parulekar interacts with one member per house and projects his party as a major contributor to development and urges people to vote for him and the BJP and he too gets a good response. More people join and there are slogans supporting Parulekar.
At 2.15 pm lunch, prepared by one of the karyakartas, is served for which the campaign takes a halt, before starting again at 3.15 pm and winding up at 8.30 pm.
“I have covered around 7000 voters in the constituency and with that I have judged that there will be a BJP wave in Saligao.”
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Jayesh goes well ‘Forward’, with his campaign
Jayesh Salgaonkar of Goa Forward is also out on the streets knocking on voters’ doors. “I started my campaign on January 1 and with that we have covered Guirim, Saligao, Pilerne and Sangolda. In the coming days we will be in a position to finish campaigning in Verem.”
Asked on his approach while campaigning, Salgaonkar says, “My approach to the people is on basic development. We have not just promised big things but first we want to put basics in place and with the response I have received so far, I guess Goa Forward will easily win in Saligao by a huge margin.”
