No-trust against Ponda civic body chairperson fizzles out

PONDA: With no councillor, including those who had issued notice, turning up, a motion of no-trust against Ponda Municipal Council (PMC) Ritesh Naik fizzled out on Friday. Following a notice of no-trust motion signed by eight members of the council, the director of municipal administration had summoned a special meeting on Friday to discuss and vote on the motion.Ponda deputy collector Sitaram Sawal, who was present as the presiding officer, declared the motion fizzled out.It could be perhaps a lone example in the history of Goa’s municipal councils that a similar motion moved against two different chairpersons of the same council has fizzled out within 14 months.It may be recalled that a similar motion propelled by the BJP-backed group against then chairperson Shantaram Kolvenkar on October 4, 2021, had fizzled out after no councillor was turned up for the meeting. Interestingly, Kolvenkar had wrested the post about four months ago by defeating Naik.In the present case, eight councilors of the 15-member council had joined hands to oust the agriculture minister’s son. Those who had signed the notice include GFP-backed Venkatesh Naik, MGP-backed Amina Naik, Geetali Talaulikar, Jaya Sawant, Seema Fernandes and Pradep Naik, Congress-backed William Aguiar and independent Kolvenkar.However, in a later development, Kolvenkar joined the BJP camp raising the strength of the Ritesh group to eight against seven opponents, including one of GFP, five of MGP and one Congress-backed councillor.