Subhash Shirodkar gives up EDC post, set for bypoll

PANAJI

: Nearly 3 months after being appointed as chairman of the Economic Development Corporation (

EDC

),

Subhash Shirodkar

resigned from the post making it clear that he would be contesting the bypolls as the BJP candidate from Shiroda constituency.


“I have tendered my resignation as EDC chairman to concentrate on election work in my constituency,” Shirodkar, who quit as Congress MLA to join the BJP last October, told TOI.

Sources said Shirodkar’s decision to stay put in the constituency he represented a number of times in the Goa assembly on the Congress ticket, comes in the wake of the announcement by MGP, BJP’s alliance partner, to contest from Shiroda.

Poll work is in full swing: Subhash Shirodkar

MGP president Pandurang Dhavalikar has not only announced his candidature but has already started campaigning in Shiroda. His elder brother and PWD minister Ramkrishna Dhavalikar has defended MGP executive committee’s resolution to contest the bypoll.

Sources said that Shirodkar’s workers are also wary of the active role being played by former BJP MLA Mahadev Naik who has stated that he is open to accepting a Congress ticket for the bypoll. Naik was a minister in the previous BJP-led governments.

On the other hand, Congress functionaries are also moving around in the constituency galvanising support against

Shirodkar

for his “betrayal”.

Sources said that MGP and Congress appear to have more presence in the constituency in the last few days than the BJP.

“I have started work in full swing. Had meetings with core workers on Saturday and Sunday,” Shirodkar said, while emphasising that BJP workers are working with him in the constituency.

Another reason for Shirodkar to fully concentrate in the constituency is that his workers are expecting the Election Commission to announce dates for the Mandrem and Shiroda bypolls, soon.

It was in mid-October last year that two Congress MLAs - Dayanand Sopte and Shirodkar - resigned to join the BJP, and a few days later they were rewarded with the chairmanship of Goa Tourism Developmetn Corporation (GTDC) and EDC, respectively.

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