Many moons ago, South Goa was a lok Sabha seat, where the BJP would be happy with just putting in a decent performance. This time round the party has dropped its sense of coyness and is going for the kill.
The Catholic-dominated seat was last won by the BJP in 1999 (its only time), when the party wrested the traditional Congress seat, on account of, which many said was a split of the votes among rival candidates.
In 2014, with Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi being presented as the future Prime Minsiter of India and a solution to all its woes, it would be crucial to see how the ruling BJP manages to lure the Catholic vote in its quest for victory here. More importantly, with the Church in Goa clearly against the BJP, the task becomes all the more inconvenient for the saffron party.
Two years earlier, the party surprised all by winning a simple majority and reducing the then ruling Congress to just nine-seats in a 40-member House. Crucial to the BJP sweep was the fielding of as many as six Catholic candidates, all of whom won and a conscious reaching out to the clergy, many of whom fed up with the corruption in the Congress rule were driven to the BJP.
But now, the Church-BJP honeymoon seems all but over. This despite the BJP Government’s recent decision allowing for Church-run schools to teach with English as a medium of instruction at Government cost. “In (Digambar) Kamat’s Congress, corruption was so rampant that it drove Goans including the clergy towards the BJP. Now after two years of the BJP rule, they seem to have had enough of Manohar Parrikar,” Cedric da Costa who unsuccessfully tried his hand at State polls two years ago said.
Yet, with the Congress and a section of the local press going gung ho about defeating “communal forces”, the BJP has its task well cut out. In addition to the Hindu-dominated areas that fall within the the constituency, the BJP is relying on local parties like the Goa Vikas Party, which has two members in the State legislative Assembly and Independents, all of whom are from the minority community, extending support to the BJP Government.
The Congress has fielded Aleix Reginaldo lourenco and he will face BJP candidate Narendra Savaikar in South Goa constituency. The Congress meanwhile, is facing problems of its own, including internal dissent of its own and finding it difficult to keep its members intact.