MARGAO/CORTALIM/PONDA: In a major setback to the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) plans to wrest control of the Zilla Panchayats in Goa by having elections on party lines, at least three party members have quit the party to contest as Independents. Two block presidents quit the party to enter the fray. Saturday was the last day for filing nominations for the March 18 polls to the district panchayats.
Davorlim, Sancoale, Usgao are the constituencies where the BJP is facing a rebellion, with a former party member filing his nomination in Cortalim.
BJP Navelim block President Satyavijai Naik quit the party along with 44 others and filed his nomination for the Davorlim seat, where the BJP has nominated former Rumdamol Sarpanch Ulhas Tuemkar. Davorlim is the only seat in Salcete, other than Guirdolim, that BJP had retained for itself. The other seats in Salcete had been set aside for the Goa Vikas Party and nominees of the Independent MLAs. (Full coverage on Pg 3)
There was a similar development in Cortalim where BJP block president Tulshidas Datta Naik resigned from the party and filed his nomination for the Sancoale ZP constituency. In the seat sharing arrangement, the Sancoale seat had been allotted to the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) which has fielded Aparna Naik.
The Sancoale seat had led to a confrontation between Environment Minister and Cortalim MLA Alina Saldanha and the BJP brass, with Saldanha accusing the party of sidelining her.
In Usgao, Laxmikant Naik, a BJP member, has filed his nomination as an Independent. The seat has been offered to the MGP.
BJP could also lose some support in Cortalim constituency where former party leader and former Cortalim-Quelossim sarpanch Anthony Vaz has filed his nomination as Independent.
While BJP has entered into an alliance with the MGP and the GVP for the polls, all the Opposition parties have stayed away from contesting the ZP elections on the party symbols.
