PANAJI: Strongly supporting the recent entry of Mauvin Godinho and Pandurang Madkaikar in the Bharatiya Janata Party, Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar on Tuesday said that he met Union Minister of State for AYUSH (independent charge) Shripad Naik during the day and discussed the differences, which the senior BJP leader has over the entry of the two former Congressmen in the party.
“Everyone in the party should agree to the consensus decisions of the party leaders, however unpleasant, in view of the long-term interest of the party,” he stressed, maintaining that it is natural that since the BJP has grown manifold over the years in Goa, the differences too have increased in the party over various issues.
“Nevertheless, such things should be ironed out within four walls and not discussed in the public,” he opined, without divulging the details of his discussion with Naik.
Incidentally, after the arrival of Madkaikar in the party, BJP workers in Cumbharjua constituency have demanded that the core committee of the party should allow Siddhesh Naik, son of Shripad Naik to contest as an independent candidate in the particular constituency, against Madkaikar.
Speaking to a group of reporters after attending a meeting of the election management committee of the state BJP at the Institute Menezes Braganza hall in the city, the Chief Minister said that on many occasions he himself, the state party chief, Vinay Tendulkar and even Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar have been upset since some of the things in the party did not take place as desired.
“When I was the state party president in 1999, about 11 Congressmen were waiting to enter the BJP, and Ramakant Khalap not only joined the party but also became a minister in our government,” he recalled, pointing out, “At that time, I thought that the prospects of my political career in Mandrem constituency, which had then been represented by Khalap, were almost over, but I did not oppose the party decision in spite of being the president of party’s Goa unit.”
Justifying the ‘import’ of Godinho and Madkaikar in the BJP, Parsekar said the decision was taken to strengthen the prospects of the party at the forthcoming state assembly election, especially after considering the ‘winnability’ of the two former Congressmen.
“We (BJP leaders) are today facing a situation wherein our ‘father figure’ has deserted us and is spewing invective against us,” Parsekar said without naming the rebel Goa Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Subhash Velingkar, who is now the guide of the new political outfit, Goa Suraksha Manch, adding that under such situation, his party needed to salvage the situation.
“We had to fortify our bastion, especially with many people in the party still threatening to leave, with the state assembly election round the corner,” he added.
The meeting of the election managing committee of the state BJP was addressed by Parsekar, Tendulkar, Deputy Chief Minister Francis D’Souza and other senior state BJP leaders.
Parsekar later informed that the strategy linked to the 2017 state assembly election was discussed electoral constituency-wise on the occasion.
“We took up 35 electoral constituencies for discussion and deliberated on aspects like candidates, manifestoes and so on,” he maintained, informing that the state unit of the party, would now start preparing a list of probable candidates for these constituencies.
The constituency-wise election committees were also constituted on the occasion for better coordination.