BJP's rise in votepower scares Goan regional parties
Sandesh Prabhudesai in Panjim
The major political parties in Goa are a worried lot. And the reason is the sudden upsurge of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the state, which has literally washed away their base.
Though both the parliamentary seats in Goa were ultimately won by the ruling Congress, the BJP ate into everybody's support base, bettering its vote bank substantially.
The major loser was Union Law Minister Ramakant Khalap's
Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party which, besides losing both seats, lost around 13 per cent of its votes. In fact, in the South Goa
constituency, the votes it polled came down from 14 per cent
to a mere three per cent.
Churchill Alemao suffered a setback in South Goa from the BJP as well as
the Congress, losing 11 per cent votes this time, while facing a
humiliating defeat. His United Goans Democratic Party candidate, however,
scored pretty well in Panaji (North Goa), polling around 18 per cent
votes.
Despite winning the seat, the ruling Congress could gain only three per
cent in the south. It lost around 10 per cent in the north. It lost in
21 assembly segments of the 40, either to the BJP, the UGDP or the MGP.
Since it entered the Goan electoral scene in 1991, the BJP had never
polled more than 18 per cent, and could never save its deposit. Even
its debut in the assembly was made possible in the 1994 poll by aligning
with the MGP.
With the BJP suddenly emerging as a powerful force in such a manner,
think-tanks of all the political parties are busy introspecting and
planning strategies to counter it.
The jubilant BJP, for its part, has
appointed a screening committee for admitting workers from other parties
into the saffron fold. The party's immediate targets are the zilla
panchayat election, followed by the assembly poll, slated to be held
by November 1999.
Rather than its Hindutva sentiments, it appears that the
stability plank and Atal Bihari Vajpayee's clean public image was what attracted the voters to it in this Hindu-dominated tourist state. In fact, a sizeable number of Catholics and Muslims, too, voted for the party.
"The people have voted for stability at the Centre. It would be a
different scene in the assembly polls," said MGP chief Surendra
Sirsat, whose party the BJP pushed to the third place in eight assembly
segments.
Sirsat gives equal credit to the BJP's unique propaganda
methods -- like sending around 70,000 letters to residents, phoning
10,000 residences and around 800 women moving from house to house -- for
the rise in its support base.
The Congress won back its lost seats, but with a slender margin. Though it lost
North Goa (by just 417 votes), the BJP gained 11
per cent more votes there. And in South Goa, it gained 20 per cent more votes even after losing the seat by 7,800 votes.
On the contrary, the victorious Congress could gain only in nine
assembly segments. The BJP did not spare even the segments represented
by Chief minister Pratapsing Rane.
Rather than accepting the fact of a state-wide invisible wave in BJP's
favour, Rane prefers to play the card of communalism to attack
the saffron party.
"We will succeed before the assembly poll in
overcoming the communal politics infused by the BJP," he claimed.
But even the MGP and the UGDP, who were equally affected with the BJP
wave, refuse to accept the Congress theory.
"People have preferred a
national party to a regional party and it is a direct blow on our
face," admitted Radharao Gracias, the UGDP spokesperson.
Though most of them describe it as an unforeseen performance, a pre-poll
survey conducted by Excellent Relations, a private agency, had
clearly revealed a strong trend in the BJP's favour, while also predicting
accurate results.
Though the Congress looks at it as a dangerous trend of communalism
entering the peaceful state known for practicing secularism, the survey
figures indicated that 15 per cent Catholics and Muslims had decided
to vote for the BJP, to seek a stable government under Vajpayee's
leadership.
Its dedicated cadres have already penetrated in all the 40 assembly
segments. The party led in 18 segments and secured the second position in
seven segments.
Elections '98
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