CANACONA
Having been ignored by the BJP and denied the party ticket, Dy Speaker and Canacona BJP MLA Isidore Fernandes resigned as legislator and from the party on Thursday night and is set to contest as an independent candidate.
The Canacona BJP block and his supporters have convened a meeting at the MLA’s residence in Loliem on Friday evening to discuss his future course of action.
When contacted, Fernandes told The Goan that he had emailed his resignation from the party, and also submitted resignation as MLA, Dy Speaker and GFDC chairman.
According to sources, the BJP leadership had been split over the nomination of Fernandes. While one group of leaders had favoured Fernandes as the party candidate, the other group strongly lobbied for Tawadkar, arguing that denying the ticket to Tawadkar could jeopardise the party’s prospects in Quepem, Sanguem, Sanvordem and Curchorem.
Sources added that Chief Minister Pramod Sawant had called Fernandes for a meeting in Panaji, but Fernandes declined to meet him and said he would meet Sawant only after the elections.
The Canacona BJP Mandal and the Youth Mandal claim they were not taken into confidence in deciding the party’s candidate for Canacona and are reportedly upset over the declaration of Tawadkar as the BJP candidate. They complained that the party has awarded the ticket to Tawadkar who had rebelled and contested against the party in 2017, leading to a split in votes and eventual defeat of the BJP candidate.
