Celebrations began at the BJP office in Goa on Thursday, with senior party officials ordering colossal amount of ‘jalebis’ after trends show party leading in 19 out of the total 40 assembly seats in the coastal state. Chief minister Pramod Sawant won the Sanquelim seat.
Early in the morning, the mood at the BJP and Congress camps in Goa was tense. Party workers and supporters were glued to TV sets to watch one of Goa’s hotly contested elections.
This election was crucial because nobody could gauge whether people would repose their faith in the incumbent BJP and how the verdict would swing in the absence of one of Goa’s iconic leaders and former CM Manohar Parrikar who died in 2019.
The Congress, who had moved its entire party machinery from neighbouring Karnataka to Goa to ensure a win, began to lose hope when candidates Carlos Almeida from Vasco, Sudhir Kandolkar from Mapusa and Tony Rodrigues from Taleigao began trailing.
But as soon as the temperatures began to rise in Goa, emotions also peaked. The BJP, who were initially expected to win 13 to 15 seats, were pleasantly surprised when more wins came their way.
“It is nothing but the faith of the people and the love for the BJP that we have reached this stage," said a senior Goa party leader who did not want to be named.
BJP leader and minister Vishwajit Rane, who was leading by a huge majority of 13,000 votes in Valpoi, according to latest trends, got teary eyed while speaking to News18. “I am grateful to the people of Goa. This was a tough election one where we had a lot of learnings but in the end it was the people’s verdict and I am humbled," Rane said.
#ResultsWithNews18 | A very emotional Goa Minster Vishwajit Rane (@visrane) speaks to CNNnews18's @Rohini_Swamy. He says that he is humbled by the result and that the people of Goa have reposted their faith in him. #BattleForStates pic.twitter.com/f6d9l8crgb? News18 (@CNNnews18) March 10, 2022
Senior Congress leader Dinesh Gundu Rao has been camping in Goa for close to a year to ensure that the party does not repeat the 2017 fiasco.
Initially, the Congress showed immense confidence early in the day by taking an appointment with Goa Governor PS Sreedharan Pillai. “But we have to now accept the verdict of the people. We know we worked hard to convince the voters that the Congress can bring change. But nothing is final yet until the Election Commission announces the results," a senior Goa Congress leader told News 18.
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