(This story was first published on 9 January 2022. It has been reposted from The Quint's archives in light of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) declaring Amit Palekar as its chief ministerial candidate for Goa assembly elections. Palekar, an advocate by profession comes from the Bhandari community.)
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in a press conference a few months ago announced that their cabinet would be led by a Bhandari chief minister and a Catholic deputy chief minister. The Bhandari Samaj constitutes the largest demographic group in Goa, and is classified under the OBC category.
The last time a Bhandari legislator became the Chief Minister of Goa was in the early 1990s. Since then, the community has had numerous legislators but none managed to ascend to the chief ministerial berth. AAP’s calculated polemic has stirred debates around the lack of representations of the Bahujan Samaj, and Bhandaris in particular, in the seats of power.
The newly arrived Trinamool Congress (TMC) intensified its statewide campaign with Abhishek Banerjee making an offering at the Rudreshwar temple, the patron deity of the Bhandari community.
Surviving amidst a deserting ship owing to successive resignations of its legislators, Congress’ Goa head and Bhandari face Girish Chodankar has found himself in the eye of a hurricane.