Goa elections: BJP to declare Pramod Sawant as CM face; mulls tie-up with TMC ally MGP

In a big development, sources confirmed to Republic TV that Dr. Pramod Sawant will be declared as the Chief Ministerial face of BJP for the Goa elections. Sawant commenced his electoral journey with a loss in the 2008 by-election to the Pale constituency but managed to win from Sanquelim in the 2012 and 2017 Assembly polls.

Functioning as the Speaker, he succeeded Manohar Parrikar as the CM after the latter passed away on March 17, 2019. The formal announcement will be made by BJP after it releases its first list of candidates on Wednesday night, sources revealed.

Moreover, sources also indicated that the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) is unhappy with its ally TMC. A day earlier, the Mamata Banerjee-led party released its first list of 11 candidates. As per sources, the BJP top brass is in touch with MGP to forge an alliance even as Goa goes to the polls less than a month away.

Interestingly, sources had told Republic TV as early as October last year that MGP was ready for a tie-up with BJP provided it is allocated 8 seats and its leader Sudin Dhavalikar is made a Governor.

Founded by Dayanand Bandodkar, MGP was the ruling party in Goa from the first Assembly polls in 1963 to 1979. However, the party gradually lost its grip over the state after the rise of viable alternatives in the form of BJP and Congress. In the 2017 polls, it won three seats as a part of an alliance with Shiv Sena and ousted RSS Goa chief Subhash Velingkar-led Goa Suraksha Manch.

While it supported BJP to form a government after the election with Dhavalikar being the Deputy CM, the latter was ousted from the Cabinet in 2019 after the saffron party secured a majority of its own.

Political scenario in Goa

In the 2017 Goa Assembly polls, BJP suffered a big blow in the absence of its stalwart leader Manohar Parrikar as it could win only 13 seats in contrast to Congress whose candidates won in 17 constituencies.

However, BJP staked claim to form the government with the support of 3 MGP MLAs, 3 GFP MLAs, two Independents and an NCP MLA under the leadership of Parrikar who resigned as the Defence Minister. However, there was a political vacuum in the state after Parrikar's demise and this void was filled by Pramod Sawant.

Meanwhile, BJP consolidated its position after 10 Congress MLAs including Chandrakant Kavlekar, Atanasio Monserrate, Jeniffer Monserratte, Francis Silveira, Philip Nery Rodrigues, Cleaofacio Dias, Wilfred Dsa, Nilkant Halarnkar and Isidor Fernandes joined the saffron party on July 10, 2019.

Both AAP and TMC are seeking to make inroads in the state in the wake of a weakened Congress state unit. Goa will go to the polls on February 14 whereas the counting of votes will take place on March 10.