Goa Lok Sabha election: Battle lines drawn; numbers stacked in favour of BJP
(This story originally appeared in on May 06, 2024)
PANAJI: In sultry Goa, the battle lines are drawn for the state’s two Lok Sabha constituencies. On one side is the saffron front of BJP, while on the other is INDIA bloc led by Congress. There is a third player, too, in the dance of democracy: Revolutionary Goans (RG). The regional outfit, buoyed by its success in the 2022 assembly elections, has made a debut in the parliamentary elections.
The numbers are stacked in favour of BJP. In the 40-member House, BJP and its alliance partners have 33 MLAs, while Congress and its allies have six, with a lone RG MLA bringing up the total.
BJP has persisted with its OBC face, five-time MP and Union minister Shripad Naik belonging to the dominant Bhandari community for the North Goa Lok Sabha constituency while both Congress and RG have played the time-tested card of having a Hindu — Ramakant Khalap and Manoj Parab, respectively — from the north and a Christian — Viriato Fernandes and Rubert Pereira — from the south.
In North Goa, the two septuagenarians — Khalap (76) and Naik(71) — are pitched against each other after 25 years. But it is South Goa constituency where BJP has brought in a political greenhorn and woman candidate to take on Navy veteran and activist-turned-politician Capt Viriato Fernandes to wrest the seat from Congress.
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