Goa’s northernmost taluka is something of an enigma. The taluka that was once considered as one of the least developed is now all set for a huge dose of infrastructure centred around the upcoming Mopa airport that it may soon be considered the centre of Goa’s tourism plans with a gaming city now also being planned in the taluka.
All this, however, is going to come at a cost for the people of Pernem — and that cost is likely that the BJP will have to bear.
Presently, the BJP represents both the seats from the taluka — Mandrem and Pernem. But back in 2017, the party had lost both the seats to the Congress and the MGP. The Congress Dayanand Sopte defeated sitting chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar, while the MGP’s Manohar “Babu” Ajgaonkar defeated the BJP’s Rajendra Arlekar who was then the minister for environment and a former speaker.
Things have now come full circle in five years. Sopte, who resigned and joined the BJP before being reelected from his seat in 2019 is not only facing a battle from within the BJP with former Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar gunning for the party ticket himself but also from the MGP with builder and ticket aspirant Jit Arolkar who began his ‘work’ in the constituency more than four years ago all gung ho about being the next representative of the coastal taluka. Arolkar has grown in stature and is now priming himself for the final onslaught during the campaign period ahead of the elections.
In neighbouring Mandrem it is the MGP’s Pravin Arlekar who is gunning to unseat “Babu” Ajgaonkar who is facing such a high level of anti incumbency that not only is it common knowledge that he is unlikely to be reelected, even whether he gets the BJP ticket for the constituency remains in doubt.
Arlekar, much like his Mandrem counterpart, has also begun ‘working’ in the constituency and interacting with the people, highlighting the failures of the government and deliberate obstinance of the government to resolve basic issues like the ongoing highway, water supply and electricity supply. A government that seemingly only has its mind on the big players who have begun investing into the taluka at the cost of the environment, but also at the cost of the people of land who are slowly but surely being pushed out by the big projects being set up there.
If the BJP and MGP decide to come together to form an alliance — a thought that seems very unlikely at the moment — the taluka of Pernem will surely be one very large bone of contention that they will fight over. There is no way Jit Arolkar and Pravin Arlekar are going to back down after having come so far and concede their seats to the BJP or even one of them. And the BJP is surely not going to leave both the seats to the MGP.
Pernem is one taluka where the Congress and other parties like the Goa Forward, the TMC and the AAP do not seem to have a strong presence leaving it to be largely a fight between the BJP and the MGP. Whether the MGP decides to support the BJP in a post poll alliance is another matter altogether.
But for now, Sopte and Ajgaonkar have a task on their hands having failed to address issues like the bad state of the highway, inadequate compensation for acquired lands, irregular water and electricity supply and an impression that they only used the last five years to enrich themselves. Such a sentiment is hard to get over even for the most seasoned politicians.
By – Andrea Fernandes
