BJP returns to the drawing board once more for ‘Mission Salcete’

PANAJI: As another election draws near, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and defence minister Manohar Parrikar, the creator of ‘Mission Salcete’ are dusting up their plan to wrest maximum seats from the taluka.
With only two nominees confirmed sitting MLA Rajan Naik for Cuncolim and former MLA Damodar Naik alias Damu for Fatorda party bosses and Parrikar have some work ahead of them to finalize candidates for the other constituencies.
The big question doing the rounds is whether they can increase their strength beyond the lone Cuncolim seat in their kitty. With the party leadership likely to back independent MLAs Avertano Furtado in Navelim and Benjamin Silva in Velim, selecting candidates for four seats in Curtorim, Nuvem, Benaulim and Margao remains to be finalized.
The BJP war room is busy formulating a new strategy to win more seats in Salcete. The saffron party hopes that division of votes in Salcete goes in their favour.
After Fatorda and Margao, BJP has a sizable number of voters in Navelim. BJP is trying to pursue Furtado to contest the 2017 assembly elections on a BJP ticket, which Furtado had already rejected. Navelim BJP block leaders like Shaikh Jina and Ulhas Tuvekar want the BJP to field its own candidate and both are aspiring for the ticket. “We have two leaders in Navelim but we have not decided anything yet,” a senior BJP leader who is a part of the core committee told TOI.
The BJP is likely to field former Margao Muncipal Council (MMC) chairperson and present councillor Arthur D'Silva in Curtorim constituency and has assured Arthur of a BJP ticket. Based on the assurance, Arthur had joined the BJP in April 2016.
The BJP core committee is not still decided whether it should field its candidates at all in Nuvem and Benaulim constituencies. BJP Nuvem block feels that it has a good opportunity to win the seat as there are around five candidates likely to file their nomination. Dinesh Bandodkar of the BJP Nuvem madal is aspiring for a ticket. “If it is a six-corner fight in Nuvem then the BJP can win as there is a sizeable number of BJP voters there,” BJP senior leader said.
Once a stronghold of the BJP, Margao no longer holds much interest for the party. A BJP senior leader said that there are three aspiring candidates in Margao but the party is not very serious about the seat.
BJP Yuva morcha president Sharmad Raiturkar, businessman Pandurang Naik alias Bhai and MMC councillor Rupesh Mahatme are being considered for the BJP ticket to contest from Margao. The BJP senior leader said that Naik may be finalized as the candidate. Last year Parrikar warned the Margao madal to fall in line to win the Margao seat.
The actual task of selecting candidates in Salcete taluka will start from January 5 as the madal from Salcete will put up their views before the BJP core committee on who should be their candidates in the upcoming polls.
Salcete was once also the bastion of the Congress, but the party has been losing ground and in the worst performance in 2012 elections, the party could secure only the Margao and Curtorim seats.
The BJP is expected to face a setback in some constituencies due to the incumbency factor and party leaders are hoping to cover new ground and a couple of seats in Salcete can be crucial to boost the overall tally.