Margao: For years, it’s been something of a ritual. Ahead of Ganesh Chaturthi, Curchorem MLA Nilesh Cabral delivers grocery kits door to door across his constituency, a gesture that has come to be closely associated with his politics. This year, though, the ritual faced some competition. Before Cabral’s grocery bags could make their rounds, voters of Curchorem found themselves holding plant saplings instead — courtesy of Rohan Gauns Dessai, a BJP ticket aspirant who has made no secret of his ambitions to contest the seat in 2027.The sapling distribution, dressed up as a green initiative timed to the festive season, is only the latest in a string of high-visibility activities Gauns Dessai has undertaken in the constituency over the past few months. From sponsoring cricket and badminton tournaments that draw crowds of local youth, to organising medical camps and arranging for the cleaning of nearly 200 wells ahead of the monsoon, Gauns Dessai has steadily built a parallel public presence in the constituency Cabral currently represents.He has consistently maintained that the activities are aimed at community uplift rather than electioneering. But the optics – and the timing – have not been lost on political observers, particularly given that BJP state vice president Narendra Sawaikar himself stoked speculation recently with a cryptic Facebook post likening Gauns Dessai and his fellow BJP aspirant Sanket Arsekar to “two fighter jets” preparing for takeoff, a none-too-subtle acknowledgement of their ticket ambitions in Curchorem and neighbouring Sanvordem respectively.What has compounded matters for Cabral is the silence from the party. Despite having voiced his displeasure earlier over activities that he feels overshadow his own work in the constituency, the sitting MLA has received little by way of public reassurance from BJP brass. Obviously, a sense of unease has gripped the Cabral camp. “It’s pretty obvious where the support from Gauns Dessai and Arsekar is coming from. We only hope this kind of politics doesn’t impede the party’s growth,” a senior party worker said.
