PANAJI: Stating that ‘winnability’ of the candidates and feedback received from the party workers linked to the respective electoral constituencies would govern the short-listing of the candidates of the Bharatiya Janata Party for the forthcoming state assembly election, state BJP president Vinay Tendulkar on Thursday pointed out at the likeliness of two to three sitting legislators of his party being denied candidature at the particular election for not conforming to the selection criteria.
“Two to three sitting MLAs of our party could be dropped during selection of candidates,” he noted, without specifying any name.
The short-listing exercise of the BJP candidates for the 2017 state assembly polls is presently on, with Tendulkar along with Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar are participating in this exercise.
The state leaders are also interacting with the office bearers and members of various mandals of the party at the city BJP headquarters. Tendulkar told ‘The Navhind Times’ that the state core committee of the BJP has completed shortlisting of candidates for 10 electoral constituencies.
“We will shortlist candidates for altogether 35 constituencies in the state,” he revealed, adding that the committee would again sit on January 1, 2 and 3, next year to shortlist candidates from the remaining 25 constituencies.”
Maintaining that his party would contest the 2017 state assembly election under Parsekar’s leadership, Tendulkar indicated that Parsekar would be the chief ministerial candidate of the party.
“Parrikar, Union Minister of State for AYUSH (independent charge) Shripad Naik and Deputy Chief Minister Francis D’Souza will also guide us in this election,” he mentioned, informing that once the roll of shortlisted candidates is ready, it would be forwarded to the BJP’s central parliamentary committee along with inputs.
Tendulkar also stated that if directed by the party to contest the particular election from any constituency, he would do so.
He did not rule out the possibility of the BJP supporting few Independent candidates in remaining five constituencies.
Replying to a question, the state BJP chief said the election campaign of the BJP in Goa is likely to witness two mega public meetings addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party president Amit Shah, Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadanavis, and Parrikar.
The BJP is likely to announce its candidates for the state assembly election in January, 2017.