The defeat of BJP after 25 years sends a serious signal that maybe it is the end of an era for the BJP in Panaji. Despite the victory in all three constituencies in Goa BJP lost its Bastion to the Congress candidate sending the clear indication that people are not happy with the ruling government.
According to the Navhind Times Report, The 1758-vote win for the Congress candidate Atanasio ‘Babush’ Monserrate over the BJP candidate Sidharth Kunkalienkar clearly shows that the Manohar Parrikar’s charisma, which attracted the Panaji voters for long, has gone with the departure of the iconic leader.
The constituency earlier belonged to the Congress candidate Mr. J B Gonsalves until 1994 following the victory of Mr. Manohar Parrikar who retained it till his last breath.
There are rumours that the BJP candidate had to face the defeat due to the disillusionment among many of the BJP workers in the city for ignoring Utpal Parrikar while deciding the BJP candidature for Panaji by-poll.
According to the sources, one BJP leader on the condition of anonymity stated that during the 2017 Assembly election, Kunkalienkar could post victory over Monserrate by a margin of only 1,069 votes due to the exhaustive campaigning done by Parrikar, in his support.
“Bhai, till the day of the election, continuously spoke to various city voters and requested them to support the BJP candidate, and very few could reject his personal request,” he stated.
Although there are many speculations, it is not sure if Parrikar’s son would have given the ticket of Panaji than he could have won, but the victory of Joshua in Mapusa favors the candidature of Utpal Parrikar in Panaji.
Meanwhile, the Congress workers have celebrated the victory of Babush Moseratte in a very big way in the city of Panaji by taking out the rallies. One of the supporters of Panaji stated that “We wanted a change in Panaji,” while others said, “We knew Babush would win.”
There are two more years left for the general assembly elections in Goa, and the future of the Panaji will be decided by the people of Panaji after looking at the work of Babush during these two years.
Babush had made many promises including the removal of Casinos and providing the employment to one person from a family in Panaji constituency.
