Digambar-Damu bonhomie stirs political undercurrents

Margao: With a slew of development works largely entailing beautification of open spaces being launched in Margao through municipal funds, the growing bonhomie between Margao MLA Digambar Kamat and former Fatorda MLA Damodar ‘Damu’ Naik has become more pronounced. The collaboration between the two came into public glare last week when Naik joined Kamat in breaking the coconut to mark the launch of a development work in a ward in Fatorda, a privilege that should have ideally been shared with local MLA Vijai Sardesai. For political observers, the optics carried a loaded statement.
While the BJP brass may not have succeeded as yet in mending fences between its Margao factions over the issue of Kamat’s induction into BJP, for the Naik-led saffron camp in Fatorda, however, the collaboration of Digambar and Damu’s forces was itself a brownie point scored over political rivals, a political observer said.
Kamat’s role reversal following his shift to BJP is all too obvious. Kamat is believed to have had a collaborative relationship with Sardesai in the past election, a relationship that had proved to be a robust firewall against BJP’s strategic attempts at winning both Margao and Fatorda seats. Following a defeat in three consecutive polls in Fatorda, Naik hopes that with Kamat now on the same side, BJP will have a smooth sailing this time.
The growing intimacy between Kamat and Naik has soured the former’s relation with Sardesai as can be seen from the Fatorda MLA’s open criticism of Kamat on public platforms. Kamat came into Sardesai’s crosshairs particularly after the Kamat-controlled Margao Municipal Council shifted the Carnival float parade route back to Margao earlier this year, followed by the Shigmo parade route. The parade route was shifted to the Margao Colva circle-Ravindra Bhavan road in Fatorda a few years ago at the behest of Sardesai during his stint as deputy chief minister. Kamat asserted his supremacy by bringing both the Carnival and Shigmo parades back to Margao.