Khalap, Alemao pushed to third place in Goa
Sandesh Prabhudesai in Panaji
The parties led by the two sitting MPs from Goa, Union Law Minister Ramakant Khalap and Churchill Alemao, have been pushed to the third place in both constituencies of the state.
Khalap, the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party leader, has been humiliated by Pandurang Raut, the BJP candidate.
With a few Catholic-dominated Congress strongholds still remaining, the possibility of the trend swinging in favour of the Congress cannot be ruled out. However, the BJP camp appears quite confident since they have a massive lead in most Hindu-dominated areas.
The Congress is also fighting Alemao's United Goans Democratic Party in the north to reduce the BJP lead. Khalap seems to have thrown in the towel, since he has already stated that the "national wave" for the BJP has affected him in most areas.
In south Goa too Alemao's close aides have accepted defeat. Though Congress candidate P Sardinha is trailing behind by around 2,000 votes after counting at nine out of 21 segments was over, the BJP is being pushed to third place in most Congress strongholds.
A tough battle is on between Alemao and Sardinha in Catholic-dominated Salcete and Mormugao talukas. BJP candidate Ramakant Angle has been able to score over them only in the talukas.
With 12 segments still remaining to be counted, it is hard to predict which of the two, the Congress or the BJP, will ultimately win the south seat.
The elections, however, have proved that neither Khalap nor Alemao would remain MPs, and that it would go either to the Congress or the BJP.
Local politicians are also shocked by the massive impact the BJP has made in both constituencies, including the assembly segments dominated by the tribal Gawadas and Kunbis. Most illiterate voters in these areas have voted for the BJP.
The mood in the BJP camp is already jubiliant. And with the kind of advances it has made, it feels it has consolidated its position for the next assembly elections, just one year away. The party was a non-entity in Goa till the 1991 parliamentary polls; even in the last assembly polls, it had only four MLAs in the 40-member House.
This election has undoubtedly established the BJP as the main political force in the state.
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