Opposition’s mayoral face loses his first corporation election to former deputy mayor

Panaji: For the first time since Panaji bagged its corporation tag, the familiar name of Surendra Furtado will not feature in the list of elected corporators. Furtado, a weather wane of civics politics in the state capital, failed to sense that the winds of change were turning in favour of Kabir Pinto Makhija in ward 9.

Furtado was the mayoral face on the Ami Panjekar panel floated by Utpal Parrikar. Makhija is part of BJP-backed ‘Together for a Progressive Panaji’ panel.

For Furtado, the results were bittersweet as his son, Leonid, won from ward 7. Furtado was defeated by 115 votes while Leonid won with a margin 70 votes.

“The people of my ward decided I should not be elected,” said Furtado, who is the CCP’s senior-most corporator. A one-time aide of revenue minister and Panaji MLA Atanasio ‘Babush’ Monserrate, Furtado had a falling out with him a decade ago.

Ironically, during Furtado’s second term as mayor in 2014, Makhija served as his deputy, the youngest corporator to hold the post at the time. Both were from Babush’s panel.

Furtado was known for being vocal during CCP meetings, often badgering the mayor and the commissioner on issues that were detrimental to the state capital. It comes as no surprise then that Makhija was referred to as a giant-killer on Friday.

“I managed to defeat the seven-time councillor and the ex-mayor. He is an experienced man and he has done a lot of good too. All eyes were on this ward,” Makhija said.

He has been contesting the CCP elections since 2011 . In 2016, his sister Soraya won on the Babush-backed panel, but lost her seat in the subsequent poll in 2021. Makhija was inducted into the CCP as a co-opted member by Rohit Monserrate in April 2021.