After tasting defeat in State and LS polls, is Babu Kavlekar trying to return to the Congress?

MARGAO: With the mood of the voters in South Goa clearly evident to all after the Lok Sabha polls and on a larger plane, the mood of the nation at a glance, former Qeupem MLA Chandrakant Babu Kavlekar is possibly trying to head back to the Congress, say sources and political observers in Goa and Delhi.

A big victory for the Congress team was the lead they secured in Babu’s constituency Quepem for the Lok Sabha polls. While the INDIA Bloc candidate polled 12,721 votes, BJP’s candidate Pallavi Dempo polled 11,937, giving the Congress candidate a lead of 784 votes, in spite of the BJP and Babu going out of their way to woo voters, using every trick in the book.

This was also a feather in the cap of Quepem Congress MLA Altone D’Costa who had previously defeated Babu – the then sitting MLA and Dy CM in the State Assembly election in 2022. Finally, Babu has realized that the Quepem voter is more inclined to the Congress, unless the BJP can work some real magic in the constituency.

In the past, Babu won from Quepem with a huge margin as the Congress MLA candidate, but he tasted defeat at the hands of D’Costa, who was contesting the 2022 Assembly elections for the first time on a Congress ticket. When Babu lost in 2022, Altone was a fresher in politics, but had worked hard in the constituency for nearly a year, building toilet blocks, repairing houses and the works – all with his own funds.

While the Sanguem BJP MLA Subhash Phal Dessai alleged that the ex-Quepem MLA Babu had worked against the BJP for the Lok Sabha polls, it is true that BJP karyakartas cold-shouldered both Babu and his wife Savitri Kavlekar both in Quepem and Sangeum.

Now, if sources are to be believed, Babu has sent feelers to the Congress high command in New Delhi and is trying to set up a meeting with two of his ‘close friends’ who will represent him and the Gandhi family or possibly the Congress President.

While the Congress high command has not responded to his overtures, Babu has realized he may not be able to win in Quepem on a BJP ticket. He is also trying for a Congress ticket in Sangeum for 2027, but for now is keeping everything a closely guarded secret, with only two or three of his closest friends in the know.

In a new development in Sanguem, young social worker Mithil Ulhas Naique Dessai has also thrown his hat into the ring and has launched a series of events to convince the voters of his genuineness and dedication.