In Goa, frenetic campaign on by BJP, Congress for two seats
Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Goa CM Pramod Sawant, candidates for the Lok Sabha polls, and other leaders at an election rally on Saturday. he inscription Aiz Maka, Falea Tuka (Today, me; Tomorrow, you!) on the gate of the graveyard of St. Thomas Church at Aldona in North Goa sounds like the title of a Spaghetti western. Yet, this aphorism accurately encapsulates the seesaw politics of rapidly shifting fortunes often played out in the verdant coastal State of Goa as both the North and South Goa Lok Sabha constituencies go to the polls on May 7.
The BJP and the Congress remain the major players in the State with an electorate of a little more than 11 lakh and 16 candidates from six parties in the fray.
Since the BJP’s victory in the 2022 Assembly election, a dominant BJP, led by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, faces a severely weakened Congress, which was dealt a body blow by the defection of eight of its 11 legislators to the saron side in 2022.
The smaller parties, namely Vijai
Sardesai’s homegrown Goa Forward Party (GFP) and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) are backing the Congress as part of the INDIA bloc to combat the BJP.
The BJP, which has won the North Goa Lok Sabha seat since 1999, is now going all out to snare South Goa — a traditional Congress bastion which includes the Catholicdominated Salcette region.
For the ¦rst time in the saron party’s history in Goa, it has ¦elded a woman candidate — Pallavi Dempo for the South Goa Lok Sabha seat with an eye on Catholic Christian votes. Ms. Dempo, who is new in politics, is the wife of businessman Shrinivas Dempo, chairman of the Dempo group, with interests in sectors ranging from football to real estate and shipbuilding.
The Congress, in a surprise move, has dropped its sitting MP Francisco Sardinha, a fourterm MP from South Goa, and ¦elded a former naval o§cer, Capt. Viriato Fernandes.
For North Goa, the BJP has renominated its ¦vetime incumbent Shripad Naik. The Congress has ¦elded old warhorse and former Union Minister Ramakant Khalap.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent rally in the State underscored the BJP’s promises of developing Goa as an international conference tourism hub along with development of ¦sheries.
TWhile issues of environmental protection and resumption of mining remain the Congress’s major concerns, the matter that has sparked Goan politics ahead of the election are recent remarks made by Capt. Fernandes about the Indian Constitution being allegedly forced upon Goa since its liberation in 1961.
As a challenge to both the BJP and the Congress, the homegrown Revolutionary Goans (RG) party has entered the fray as the third challenger. RG chief Tukaram ‘Manoj’ Parab, with his mission to sweep away the ‘old, corrupt order of Goan politics’, is contesting the North Goa seat while Rubert Pereira is ¦ghting from South Goa.
With political machinations in full swing, the land of Susegad (relaxed or laidback) is galvanised as frenetic poll campaigning reaches a crescendo on May 7.