MGP wrests dy chief’s post in Ponda body

PONDA: All’s not well in the BJP-backed Ponda Nagrik Samiti panel in the Ponda Municipal Council (PMC), as the MGP-backed Rising Ponda panel was able to wrest the deputy chairperson’s post for the first time.
After the municipal elections in 2018, the Rising Ponda panel emerged as the largest group and had elected it’s chairperson. However, the MGP lost power over the council on August 13, 2019, after Madkai MLA and former PWD minister Ramkrishna Dhavalikar was dropped as cabinet minister.
On Friday, MGP-backed Amina Naik was elected as deputy chairperson of the PMC by defeating BJP-backed Anand Naik with 8-7 votes in the 15-member council. The seat fell vacant after Vishwanath Dalvi from BJP’s panel was elevated to the post of chairperson on August 28. Anand, Ponda MLA’s son Ritesh Naik and William Aguiar had been elected through the Congress-backed Ponda Citizens’ Progressive Front panel. However, the trio recently joined the BJP. With this, the BJP panel’s strength had increased to eight, as against seven members from the MGP panel, while the Congress panel was reduced to zero.
“Athough the BJP was expecting Anand to win with nine votes as one MGP-backed councillor had supported them, interestingly two members of the BJP panel voted against him,” said the BJP Ponda block president Shantaram Kolvenkar, who is also a PMC councillor.