TEAM HERALD
MARGAO: He is no stranger to South Goa’s political landscape. Forty-seven-year-old Narendra Sawaikar was BJP candidate for the South Goa seat and had nearly upset the Congress apple cart in 2009 when he threw his hat in the electoral ring for the first time.
Since then, there’s no looking back for the lawyer by profession, who has behind him around 16 years of practice. With 2012 Assembly polls bringing about a parivartan in the state and the Lotus in bloom, Sawaikar bounced back in active politics with Chief Minister rewarding him the Chairmanship of Goa Law Commission. That the party was grooming him for the 2014 Lok Sabha poll was evident by the fact that Sawaikar had turned out a familiar face at government or party-sponsored functions down South since the return of the Parrikar regime.
Many in the party know him as a cadre of the right wing party, given his close association with the BJP as its general secretary. But Sawaikar is well known amongst agriculturists and farmers associated with Goa Bagayatdar Co-operative movement and social movement. He has been the chairman of the Goa Bagayatdar since 2004, during whose tenure the movement has taken a big jump from a turn over of Rs 100 crore to Rs 200 crore and now enjoys a membership of around 9,500 farmers.
The low-profile BJP candidate had played his own role in the infamous Nylon 6,6 agitation and had taken part in the students movement during his student days.
At 47, Sawaikar is one amongst the half-a-dozen candidates vying for the South Goa seat, promising special status for Goa to retain
the state’s identity and dual citizens for Goans holding Portuguese
citizenship.
