Chair rotation in Margao civic body ignites discord

Margao: With Margao MLA Digambar Kamat finally succeeding in installing his trusted lieutenant, Damodar Shirodkar, firmly in the saddle of the Margao Municipal Council’s chairperson’s post, uncertainty now looms over the continuance or otherwise of the vice-chairperson, Dipali Sawal, who also belongs to the Kamat camp. As a consequence, signs of discord have already begun to set in, though in a hushed and discreet manner, political observers say.
The election to the chairperson held earlier this month was necessitated owing to the resignation of his predecessor, Lyndon Pereira, in August, in accordance with a verbal agreement between the civic alliance partners — Kamat and GFP president Vijai Sardesai — over the rotation of the posts of chairperson and his deputy every fifteen months during the five-year tenure. As Pereira belonged to the Sardesai camp, he was to be succeeded by a councillor from the Kamat camp. As regards the vice-chairperson, Sawal, who belongs to the Kamat camp, was to step down to make way for a councillor from the Sardesai camp to occupy the post.
However, with Kamat having defected to BJP, power equations in the civic body have turned topsy turvy, as the civic alliance crumbled the day the Margao MLA turned saffron last month.
After Pereira stepped down, Sardesai had then said that once the new chairperson is elected, the incumbent vice-chairperson would resign and a councillor from his Fatorda Forward panel would be nominated. With Kamat’s defection, BJP’s strength in the civic body has risen to 16, thereby elbowing out GFP from authority of power in the civic politics of Margao.
However, with Kamat maintaining ambiguity over the rotation of the posts, several councillors from the ruling panel, who have been aspiring for the top two posts, have turned restive.
The disenchantment is more palpable in the original BJP camp as Kamat has almost managed to assert his dominion over the local unit of BJP soon after his defection.
“If BJP cadres are seen amongst the Kamat-affiliated group, it has more to do with political posturing. If there are no noises from within the local BJP camp, it has more to do with their submission to party discipline than adjusting to the defection,” a political observer said, summing up the mood.