Ahead of 2024 LS polls, S Goa seat may be within BJP’s grasp

Panaji: With eight Congress MLAs defecting to BJP, the saffron party is eyeing both Lok Sabha seats for the 2024 polls, especially South Goa, which it has historically found tough to secure.
BJP currently has 12 MLAs in South Goa, including the three who joined on Wednesday.
Former defence minister and chief minister Manohar Parrikar had managed to secure the South Goa seat for BJP in 2014, when he had 21 BJP MLAs and with the support of three MGP MLAs and two independents. Additionally, there was a ‘Modi wave’. Five years later, in 2019, BJP lost the seat to Congress by over 9,000 votes.
A political observer said that the merger of eight MLAs into BJP has given it an opportunity to once again grab the South Goa seat.
“Now, BJP can expect more votes in Mormugao, Nuvem and Margao,” the observer said. “An advantage is that MGP too is with BJP. During the last election, MGP had managed to damage BJP after its leader Ramakrishna ‘Sudin’ Dhavalikar was dropped from the cabinet. BJP should be able to fight the election comfortably, as it also has support from independent MLAs.”
BJP has so far won the South Goa seat on two occasions, and with an eye on crossing 400 seats in the Parliamentary polls, winning South Goa has become crucial for the state BJP. The party’s central leadership too strongly backed the local leadership to allow the entry of Congress MLAs, so that there are no hiccups in winning both the seats.
Union minister Narayan Rane has been given the responsibility of winning the South Goa seat for BJP.
Of BJP’s 28 MLAs, 12 are from the minority community. Now, the party does not require support of any other MLAs. In the 2022 assembly election, BJP won 20 seats and formed the government with the help of independents and MGP.
In the 40-member Goa legislative assembly, 21 is the magic number, and with the eight Congress MLAs joining BJP, it has now got an ‘absolute’ majority in the House.
The merger will also help chief minister Pramod Sawant silence opponents in the party vying for the top post.