Blow for BJP, Kamat fails Margao test
GANASHYAM WINS MMC CHIEF’S ELECTION SIX OF 16 BJP COUNCILLORS CROSS-VOTE
MARGAO
In what is seen as a morale booster for the Opposition and a big blow for the ruling BJP, non-BJP forces in the Margao Civic body led by the Goa Forward successfully checkmated Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and Cong-turned-BJP MLA Digambar Kamat in their bid to get the BJP to power in the civic body after a gap of 17 years when the ruling BJP candidate bit the dust in Friday’s election for the post of Margao Municipal Chairperson.
Top BJP leadership has been left red-faced and embarrassed as six out of the 16 party-backed Councillors voted for the Goa Forward-backed Independent candidate Ganashyam Shirodkar. While BJP-Councillor Sunita Paradkar was seen openly aligning with the Goa Forward group of Councilors, as many as five other BJP-backed Councillors cross-voted in favour of Independent Ganashyam, dashing all hopes of the ruling party’s bid to return to the hot saddle.
On paper, the BJP’s strength in the 25-member civic body had gone up to 16, after Margao MLA Digambar Kamat
and his group embraced the BJP earlier this week. As it finally turned out, however, Goa Forward-backed Independent Ganashyam made it to the hot seat with ease, polling 15 votes as against 10 polled by Damu Shirodkar.
The hotly contested election had assumed political significance for the seven-time Margao MLA as he faced the acid test to get his candidate Damu elected to the top post, more so after his exit from the Congress to embrace the BJP.
That the BJP had lot of
stakes in the Civic poll became evident when Chief Minister Pramod Sawant descended in the city on the eve of the election on Thursday in a bid to bring together the original group of BJP Councillors and neo-BJP City Fathers and ensure they all vote for the party-backed candidate.
The election result is a clear indication that the ruling party did not vote as a cohesive unit despite last minute efforts by the Chief Minister to ensure the original and neo-BJP Councillors gel well
and unitedly vote for the party-backed candidate Damu.
On the other hand, Ganashyam’s candidature received a big boost when the Sardesai openly backed him after Kamat embraced BJP, signaling the collapse of the Vijai-Digambar duo’s Margao Civic Alliance (MCA).
The Vijai-Ganashyam duo is believed to have exploited the prevailing sentiments against the Digambar-backed candidate to the hilt, successfully managing to get six BJP City Fathers to cross-vote.
After the election, Ganashyam along with Sardesai, Councillors and well-wishers headed to offer prayers to Lord Dambab at Pimpalkatta.