Digambar Kamat clear front runner for the BJP Lok Sabha ticket from South Goa

MARGAO: According to reliable sources in New Delhi, former Goa CM and Margao MLA Digambar Kamat is the front runner for the BJP Lok Sabha ticket from South Goa.

The BJP high command is well aware that Kamat has a wide base in South Goa and being a former CM has good knowledge of the entire State.

For the same reason, he knows how the various government departments and bureaucrats function in the State. His indepth experience as a former CM is one of the main reasons why he may ultimately be chosen by the party.

Additionally, Kamat is acceptable to both Hindus and Catholics in Salcete, having been with the Congress for a long time, he has forged friendships with a wide cross section of society. He is also known to be on “good terms” with other South Goa leaders like Vijai Sardesai, which will make a big difference when it comes to influencing voting patterns.

For the constituencies of Priol, Madkai, Ponda and Shiroda, the BJP leadership in depending heavily on the MGP party and their own leaders like Ravi Naik and Subhash Shirodkar to ensure that the saffron party bags the maximum votes to compensate for some backlash in Nuvem, Benaulim and Velim.

While former deputy CM Chandrakant Babu Kavlekar’s name is also doing the rounds, he is number 4 on the internal “secret list”, with Digambar Kamat and Narendra Sawaikar being the top two favourites.

For a short while, the BJP was toying with the idea of a ‘Catholic’ candidate for South Goa, but sources confirm that the idea was abandonded as the short-listed candidates did not have a mass base in the entire region and were not confident of winning the seat for the BJP.