PANJIM: Though the MLAs-elect from Saligao and Porvorim won by defeating Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidates, they have been inducted in the Manohar Parrikar cabinet, but their supporters are not all that thrilled about the development.
The victory of Jayesh Salgaonkar (Saligao) and Rohan Khaunte (Porvorim) was celebrated but the joy was not visible after they joined hands with the saffron party.
Earlier, Salgaonkar had not been willing to accept his party’s (Goa Forward) decision to team up with BJP. His close supporters said that Salgaonkar had promised his supporters and assured them that he will resign rather than be in a BJP government.
But, after a lot of consultations and seeking the views of supporters even through WatsApp groups he decided to go along with the party. That happened only after his supporters told him to go ahead, or else he was ready to resign.
Pilerne Citizen’s Forum the NGO from Saligao constituency, that supported Salgaonkar, said the call was taken at the last moment considering development in the constituency. The forum was initially upset with the Goa Forward move but after consultations with members they gave Salgonkar the green signal.
Saligao was wrested by Goa Forward from BJP’s Tourism Minister Dilip Parulekar by a margin of 2,137 votes. Salgaonkar was chairman of the North Goa Zilla Panchayat for five years.
Peter D’Silva, a resident of Saligao, said that some of those who voted for Salgaonkar did so as he is a better candidate. “People want development in the constituency. Right now nobody speaks anything on the move of Jayesh but if he fails then he will face the heat,” D’Silva said.
It’s almost similar in Porvorim, where Khaunte who contested as independent won by over 4213 votes, a higher margin than in 2012. As the entire Porvorim plateau is dominated by the RSS, there was not much resistance to his move of joining hands with the BJP.
“There was no anti-BJP wave in Porvorim and its candidate was a new face. That’s the reason there is no much resistance to Khaunte joining a BJP-led government,” said Baburao Desai, a resident of Porvorim.
