Hiding in the shadow of Salcete, Tiswadi and to an extent Bardez, the Ponda taluka doesn’t often get the importance it deserves. Referred to as the ‘temple town’ or the Antruz taluka,
Ponda holds five legislative assembly seats — Priol, Marcaim, Ponda and Siroda. Part of the taluka including Usgao falls under the Valpoi taluka. In terms of the number of seats the taluka falls fourth after Salcete, Bardez and Tiswadi which have eight, seven and five seats respectively, but ahead of Bicholim and Quepem which have three and two seats respectively.
Once a bastion of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party, in the 2017 assembly elections the taluka has seen its fortunes sway across different parties — the BJP, the Congress and the MGP over the years.
The Ponda constituency itself has for the longest time been the bastion of former Chief Minister Ravi Naik who represented it from 1984 to 1989 and then from 1999 till 2012 when he lost to Lavoo Mamledar of the MGP. Between 1989 and 1994 he was the MLA of Marcaim but lost his seat to Shripad Naik of the BJP in 1994. In 1998 he was elected the North Goa MP before defeating Shripad Naik in the 1999 state assembly elections and returning to the state.
Naik is however look on as being past his prime and his two sons Riteish and Roy lacked the political acumen of their father and have failed to inspire confidence despite their recent entry into the BJP. That leaves a question over who is going to fill the void left behind. Will Naik himself contest again, if so on which ticket — the Congress? The BJP? Or will he make way for one of his sons hoping that backed by the BJP’s organization they might finally make it. The jury is still very much out on this one.
Elsewhere in Marcaim constituency Sudin Dhavalikar appears as formidable as ever and looks on course to retain his seat even if the BJP fields a candidate against him. That leaves us with Priol and Siroda. Priol is currently represented by independent MLA and minister Govind Gaude a first time MLA who is hoping to be offered an entry into the BJP despite his past ties with the Congress and closeness to Ravi Naik. That his entry hasn’t been agreed yet means that the BJP holds some reservations over allowing him to enter the party despite the party backing him publicly in the 2017 assembly elections.
Finally in Siroda it is Subhash Shirodkar, now a BJP MLA who will go up against his predecessor Mahadev Naik, who is now in the AAP after having made a stopover at the Congress party.
What’s increasingly clear is that the Congress party remains weak in Ponda taluka and their candidates are unlikely to inspire confidence. It is a similar story for the BJP that appears all at sea in the constituency despite this being one of the talukas that should have been their strong points. This means the situation is ripe for the MGP to try and take full advantage to win the taluka back into their fold. It perhaps explains why both the BJP and the Congress are eager for an alliance with the MGP ahead of the polls.
Much remains up in the air as the parties jostle for space among themselves to win the hearts and minds of the voters in the taluka.
By Andrea Fernandes
