goa pandurang madkaikars vicelike grip over cumbarjua for two decades appears to have loosened after a crippling stroke in 2018 compelled him to take a backseatthe bjp mla and former transport minister has won the constituency for four terms on three different party tickets but will not contest next weeks state assembly election instead his wife and old goa sarpanch janita has been nominated by the party with her name only making it to bjps last list of nominationsfor the last 20 years the constituency has largely witnessed a direct fight between madkaikar and either congress or independent candidate this time around its a threecornered contest between bjp congress and new entrant tmc which has fielded samil volvoikar formerly a close aide of madkaikarvolvoikar has learnt the tricks of the trade from his political guru and thats his biggest advantage said a panch who did not want to be namedvolvoikar was eyeing a congress ticket but quit the party after rajesh faldessai a mining businessman was nominated faldessais candidature has also gained momentum and those observing the constituency from close say congress stands a good chance of breaking madkaikars 20year winning runthis is the best chance for congress to reclaim its bastion said another panchsome however are upset that faldessais supporter and old goa panch vishal volvoikar who seconded the proposal of an illegal structure within the heritage area has been canvassing for him the structure created huge controversy and work was stopped only after massive protestsmadkaikar has won cumbarjua with mgp 2002 congress 2007 2012 and bjp for the first time in 2017 according to observers he now faces a significant challenge to ensure that his wife retains the seatthere is a possibility that the gawda tribe votes can get divided and if that happens it will hurt bjp unlike in the past when madkaikar who belongs to the tribe got a lions share of the votes their support can now get divided with tmc and congress making significant inroads said another observerjanita also lost considerable time in kickstarting her campaign as siddesh son of union minister of state for tourism shripad naik was a contender for the ticketbjp has now placated siddesh by appointing him as party secretary but a former functionary of cumbharjua mandal rohan harmalkar has jumped into the fray and is contesting as an independentaccording to a source harmalkar enjoys backing from some influential party supporters in the area and is expected to eat into bjp votes he was the goto guy when madkaikar was unavailable and helped people during the covid19 pandemic a villager said in 2017 aap candidate prakash naik secured 2394 votes and the party has now nominated gorakhnath kerkarrapid concretisation of old goa the unreliability of public transport facilities in some parts and real estate biggies flexing its muscles have been some of the issues in the constituencythe inaccessibility of madkaikars during the pandemic has also been a talking point yet despite all the odds that janita is faced with observers