Kamat knows almost everyone in Aquem. He walks into any house, chats with the residents, gives his party’s pamphlet and leaves. A motley crowd of over 50 Congress supporters follows him in the hot and humid air, and Kamat, wearing two caps, one over another, walks around in a brisk manner.
It is strange how popular slogans keep coming back in new avatars. Bharatiya Janata Party made a memorable campaign in 2014 coining: Ab ki baar, Modi Sarkar. It was almost a remake of Ab ki bari, Atal Behari. But the slogan that stayed with the people was the former one. And not just people, even corporates came up with several remakes of ab ki baar. And now, more than two years later, it is Congress candidate Digambar Kamat, former chief minister of Goa, who is ready to reintroduce the slogan with a new take — Ab ki baar, sola hazaar.
“This is something (referring to sola hazaar) that my supporters have been saying for this election. They want to win with a margin of over 16,000 votes. I had won by a margin of over 12,000 votes in the last elections,” says Kamat, who is campaigning in Aquem area of Margao constituency in south Goa.
Kamat knows almost everyone in Aquem. He walks into any house, chats with the residents, gives his party’s pamphlet and leaves. A motley crowd of over 50 Congress supporters follows him in the hot and humid air, and Kamat, wearing two caps, one over another, walks around in a brisk manner.
Wearing two caps is not too difficult for Kamat. He was a BJP man once upon a time, but then that was a long time ago. Now Kamat is a total ‘Congressi’ as he brushes away squabbles in Congress over nominations. “You see, this is so typical of Congress. And many big parties actually. There will always be some unhappy faces, but we are all united now,” he says.
It was during Kamat’s tenure that the BJP and Manohar Parrikar in particular made corruption a big issue in the 2012 Assembly elections. Kamat was accused of favouring mining industry and allowing illegal mining that led to the loss of several thousand crores of rupees to the state exchequer. While the Congress could barely win 9 seats in 2012, Kamat had won handsomely. “This is my 7th election. People know my work and they know what I have done for south Goa. You will see a magnificent structure on the highway in Margao, the south Goa collectorate. I am not boasting, but truly it’s the most beautiful collectorate in the entire country,” says Kamat as he walks into another house.
Ask him about the corruption taint and he lambasts. “For the sake of argument, let’s say our government was corrupt. But then people voted us out. What did the BJP do in all these five years?” Kamat asks. As Kamat enters a mobile shop, his supporter Sandeep says Kamat is the only chief ministerial candidate across parties. “Parrikar is busy in Delhi. No one likes Parsekar. Pratapsingh Rane is quite old now and Faleiro was not around for over three years. Kamat is the only saviour of Goa,” he asserts.
It’s quite ironical that Kamat’s supporters see him as the CM candidate, but the party banners display Faleiro and Rane’s picture, not of Kamat. Interestingly, it’s not something that bothers Kamat. “BJP made hollow promises.
They said they will drive away casinos. Didn’t do it. They said they will create 50,000 jobs. Didn’t do it,” he says.
Kamat doesn’t think much of the challenge posed by the Aam Aadmi Party.
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 "Digambar Kamat")
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