MARGAO: Of the eight MLAs from Salcete, six are representing villages and of these while three are involved in the panchayat elections, three have kept away from it. Navelim MLA Luizinho Faleiro candidly admitted that an MLA cannot stay away from panchayat polls. He pointed out that at Telaulim, two of his candidates have already been elected unopposed, he was confident that his candidates would take control of all the panchayats in his constituency.
He however, did admit that there were a few problems where his own supporters are contesting against each others. “But then they have told me their support to me remains unchanged and asked me to permit them to contest against each other at the panchayat elections,” he said.
The other two MLAs namely Churchill Alemao representing Benaulim constituency and Clafasio Dias representing Cuncolim constituency are quite involved in the elections and they have fielded their panels in some of the villages.
Although Churchill said he would not be involved in the panchayat polls and would prefer to accept whoever was elected as his man, he is now finding himself drawn into the process.
With many of his supporters contesting the elections in the different villages, he has been forced to stand by some of them who have stood by him through thick and thin. In fact some of his supporters have even put up banners with his photograph on them thereby sending a strong message that they have the MLA’s backing.
Clafasio on the other hand has his candidates in at least three villages of Salcete taluka that form part of his constituency but he is having a problem as in some wards his supporters are clashing against each other thereby giving the opponents an opportunity to sail through.
While he is not taking the chance of antagonizing his supporters by taking a stand in these cases in Chandor-Cavorim and Guirdolim villages, former minister Joaquim Alemao has visited these two villages drumming up support for his candidates.
Incidentally efforts by Clafasio and erstwhile volunteers of Aam Aadmi Party to forge an alliance to keep Joaquim Alemao’s supporters out of the panchayats in Chandor-Cavorim and Guirdolim have not been very successful.
