CCP Poll: Is it a semi-final for all 3 - Babush, Siddharth and Cong?
GOANEWS DESK, PANAJI | 04 March 2016 18:43 IST
The election of City Corporation of Panaji (CCP), the state capital of Goa, may perhaps put an end to many questions raised that would decide the fate of forthcoming Assembly election.
While Ponnjekar and Tallgaonkar would decide it on 6 March, the reality would be open for analysis only on 8 March, when the results of 30 seats would be out.
The questions raised are pertinent and many:
Will St Cruz MLA Babush Monseratte sweep CCP election, blasting out Manohar Parrikar’s bastion?
Will this election decide the fate of BJP, which is ruling in the CCP as well as the state of Goa?
Will it decide the popularity graph of defence minister Manohar Parrikar, after he shifts to Delhi?
Will Panaji MLA Siddharth Kuncalienker succeed in holding the BJP together by countering the rebellion?
Will Congress succeed in holding the ground after remaining a dormant player since losing 2012 Assembly election?
Will it be a semi-final for all the three – Babush, the BJP and the Congress, before the Assembly Finale?
“For me, it’s a semi-final. Winning Panaji Assembly seat is my final”, reiterates Babush once again.
Though Panaji MLA Kuncalienker says Babush makes this statement every time and then backs out, Babush dismisses this contention.
“I said it only once, during the bye-election after Manohar Parrikar quit the seat. But I backed out since I did not want to divide the votes between me and Congress candidate Surendra Furtado”, he claims.
In fact the St Cruz MLA says he would make AAP in Panaji by winning 27 out of 30 seats in CCP election, after which he would march ahead by joining the United Goans Democratic Party.
His panel had won with a wafer thin majority in March 2011, with 16 seats while 12 went to the BJP panel, leaving two to the Furtado couple as independents.
Kuncalienker laughs out the figure of 27, while claiming that the BJP panel would be 20+.
But what about the rebellion the ruling party has faced this time?
“The BJP is like a family where fights take place in a democratic manner. But we have sorted out our differences and no rebellion would affect us”, claims the BJP legislator.
He also rules out the theory of ‘setting’ between Babush and Parrikar – ‘you win the CCP and I win the Panaji Assembly seat.’
“We are very serious this time because we want Panaji city to be in the safe hands”, says Kuncalienker.
Babush also dismissed the theory of ‘setting’ while stating that the BJP has in fact fallen in the trap he laid down.
“People have seen what the BJP could do in the last term. They have not fulfilled any promise in spite of having also the state power”, observes Babush.
While both Babush and BJP camps claim that people are fed up of their opponent, Congress claims the results would be a big big surprise.
Cumbarjua MLA Pandurang Madkaikar, who is co-ordinating the CCP election, admits that the Congress panel cannot come to power on its own, since they are contesting only 20 seats.
“But we would win minimum 10 and emerge as the deciding factor”, claims the Congress legislator.
According to him, no matter who wins, no panel would get majority seats to rule the council with its own strength.
For Babush and the BJP, winning the semi-final matters in terms of getting majority seats; but for the Congress, even winning handful of seats would be ‘good news,’ to hold ground in the forthcoming Assembly election.
It is thus a semi-final for all the three groups – the ruling BJP, aspiring Babush and the dormant Congress.
CCP election is not just a one day match fixing but the match was fixed well in advance when the wards were redrawn.This is the second setting between Babush and Parrikar.The first was done during vidhan sabha in 2012 when voters were rearranged based on their voting pattern over period of time. So Parrikar and Babush need not pretend about being upright in their approach.