‘BJP calculations went for a toss after I entered the fray’

Former Goa RSS chief Subhash Velingkar is contesting the bypolls in Panaji with the promise of delivering in the capital what, he says, former CM Manohar Parrikar failed since 1994. Excerpts from an interview with TOI.
Your name was floated as a candidate for Mandrem bypolls, but you decided not to contest. What made you take the plunge now in Panaji?
That was not the right time to strike.When Mahesh Mhambrey went around Panaji to gauge the sentiment for GSM, he realised that it is difficult that people will get even five BJP MLAs elected at the next assembly polls. In this scenario, I am going to the people with the slogan of ‘clean politics’. You take any of the 40 MLAs today. They have contested elections as they had money to distribute. They do not have any political philosophy.
Don’t you think your candidature could split the vote in favour of Congress?
We have taken the plunge in the electoral fray wholeheartedly. We know that from both sides they will shower money and go to any level to defeat us. We consider to be fighting against only one rival and do not see Congress and BJP as two different entities.
You see no difference that can separate Congress and BJP, the party with a difference it touted itself to be?
BJP has no separate identity. BJP is the same as Congress. In this fight, there is no partywise polarisation. There are two tendencies—the good and the bad. People will vote based on this. I am getting support for this from all directions, including the Catholic community. People will for once and for all destroy this tendency called Babush and BJP which has created disillusionment in a city like Panaji. Here Parrikar’s margin dropped from 6,500 to 1,500. This went down to even 1,000 in one election. It shows that Panaji’s voter is intelligent. He is not influenced by money. There are some on the outskirts, but a large chunk thinks before it votes.
Do you think your image as former RSS chief may affect your chances of bagging the Catholic votes?
Our plank is not appeasement. It is justice to all, appeasement to none. I have many Christian friends. They came to meet me and said we want a person like you here. We may not agree on everything. But they want a trustworthy person and they believe I fit the bill. People who know me know that I am not communal.
What are the issues which you promise to resolve when you approach the Panaji voter?
All the old problems of the Panaji constituency, from 1994, which I had studied back then to frame the BJP manifesto, are as is till date. St Inez nullah, flooding in Mala, flooding of road throughout Panaji during the monsoon, parking, garbage, the mess of Smart City, where they are trying to earn big bucks through it. They have just done some superficial beautification of Azad Maidan under Smart City and the bill shows works of a whopping Rs 2.5 crore. We do not get uninterrupted power supply here. We do not get 24x7 water supply here. We barely get water for three hours. Does it take 25 years to resolve these issues? Are they unresolvable?
Is it possible to resolve these issues if you get elected, while being at loggerheads with the BJP-led state government?
I don’t believe in the often-used excuse that works of opposition MLAs do not get done. Manohar Parrikar had got more work done when he was leader of opposition. If I am Panaji MLA, and they block developmental works in my constituency, will I allow them to sleep in peace?
What do you think caused the unprecedented indecisiveness among the BJP when declaring the Panaji bypoll candidature?
They had not expected that I will enter the fray. Their calculations have all gone for a toss after I entered the fray. Whatever strategies they used in Shiroda, Mapusa or Mandrem will not stand here. So, they have been left in daze as a result.