PANJIM: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) finally chose a woman for the South Goa Parliamentary seat and announced the candidature of Pallavi Dempo for the seat.
Pallavi’s name figured in the BJP’s fifth list of 111 candidates for the general Lok Sabha elections.
A Goan entrepreneur and educationist, Dempo holds a graduate degree in chemistry and a post-graduate degree in business management (MBA) from MIT, Pune. She is the Executive Director of Dempo Group of Companies and currently oversees the media and real estate arm of the company.
Pallavi Dempo is the president of the Indo-German Educational and Cultural Society, which contributes to the cultural enrichment between Germany and Goa.
She is the trustee of Moda Goa Foundation.
The foundation is a fashion and textile museum started by late Wendell Rodricks.
She served as a member of the academic council affiliated with Goa University from 2012 to 2016. Besides being a member of various other organisations, Pallavi Dempo is also part of the managing committee of the Goa Cancer Society and also serves on the core committee of All India Management Association’s Women’s Council - AIMA Aspire.
The South Goa seat is currently represented by Francisco Sardinha of Congress.
The BJP had won this constituency only twice in 1999 and 2014. In 2019 polls, Adv Narendra Sawaikar of BJP lost the election to Sardinha by 9,755 votes.
In the run up to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Union Home Minister Amit Shah addressed a public meeting at Ponda in April last year and by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Margao in February this year, with focus on South Goa constituency.
As part of BJP’s outreach, the party is learnt to have organised public meetings in 160 Lok Sabha constituencies including South Goa constituency, where the party narrowly lost in 2019 polls or had never won.
“Pallavi Dempo is into social work. She runs charitable and educational institutes. The family is well known across the State. She is from Margao. Taking all this into account she has been given the ticket. Bringing a new face would not have been proper. We always work for the symbol. She is already a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party. We cannot say that she is not the party cadre. She is already in the party. Only thing is that she does not hold any position,” Tanavade said.
Other names like South Goa ZP Adhyaksh Suvarna Tendulkar, former Goa BJP Mahila Morcha president Sulakshana Sawant, former Deputy Chief Minister Chandrakant ‘Babu’ Kavalekar, former MP Narendra Sawaikar and former MLA Damu Naik, all were there, when the name was announced. The names which were sent from here were of party cadres and none of them were outsiders,” Tanavade said.
After her name was declared, Pallavi Dempo said, “We will try our level best to win the seat. I have always believed in Narendra Modi Ji’s vision of leadership. I am sure his vision empowers every individual irrespective of caste, creed and religion and gives equal opportunity in the society. Thank you so much for the nomination.”
OPINION
Is the Congress serious about South Goa?
With the BJP announcing its candidate for South Goa seat, the Congress’s continued delay in declaring a candidate for a seat where it has its own MP, gives rise to questions about its seriousness, in giving a fight to the BJP in the coming Lok Sabha elections.
Who the Congress chooses will also give a signal whether it will fight seriously or face questions from the public about compromising the seat.