Goa Suraksha Manch (GSM) might not have won a single seat but has definitely played a crucial role in splitting the votes which might have gone to the BJP, political analysis indicating post BJP’s failure to become a single largest party in Goa.
The vote share data released by the Election Commission of India (ECI) has revealed that GSM and MGP together have managed to attract 12.9 per cent voters in favour of them which accounts to nearly 1,13,821 votes out of the 11.10 lakh total number of voters in the state making it a crucial factor in splitting the votes which could have gone in favour of the BJP.
Close supporters in the BJP camp have pointed out fingers towards the split of September 2016 within Goa RSS unit.
The downfall of BJP was started then and culminated today, a senior leader of GSM said.
The major setback to the saffron party was noticed in Mandrem constituency where Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar who had made the hat trick, was defeated by Congress candidate Dayanand Sopte. Sopte split from BJP in the year 2012 and joined Congress.
Sources within RSS have informed that the entire RSS cadre had worked against BJP and silently voted for Congress to defeat BJP. It has also to be noted that Subhash Velingkar had stated that defeating Parsekar is one of the main agenda of GSM.
The same trend was also noticed in Canacona constituency where Vijay Pai Khot became another victim of BJP-RSS bitter relationship, which was never witnessed in the country.
“Vijay was one of the sure candidates of BJP, but people have silently voted against BJP which is a strong cadre of RSS in Canacona. Strong BJP workers and supporters have also voted for Congress,” one of the close aide of Pai Khot said.
Porvorim, the stronghold of RSS, has also witnessed a similar trend. Being an independent for the second consecutive term, Rohan Khaunte has managed to retain his seat. RSS factor has also partially supported this historic victory.
Though it is a fact the constituency is a RSS domain, the alliance of MGP-GSM has just secured 222 votes. This indicates as per political analysis the RSS cadre has voted against ruling BJP government in Goa.
BJP Candidate Guruprasad Pawaskar managed to get only 6961 votes, whereas the independent candidate Rohan Khaunte won by a huge margin of 4,213 votes.
However, the same trend continued in couple of other constituencies like Pernem, Siolim, Sanguem and Quepem.
Speaking to Herald, Subhash Velingkar has endorsed the trend and said at many places the cadre has supported anti-BJP candidate due to mere anger.
“The damage to BJP is directly visible in almost 12 constituencies and indirectly in 10 constituencies. The cadre has supported anti-BJP candidates in some constituences due to mere anger. There has been manipulation in five constituencies including Panjim. It cannot be possible that GSM candidate manages to get only 323 seats when is cadre is of 1,500 people excluding their family members. Other manipulations have taken place in Curchorem and Sanquelim.”
He further said “There have been a lot of diversions and the party cadre has indirectly supported the anti BJP candidates and this has put the BJP in problem.
