PANAJI: Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leaders as well as Union ministers, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address public meetings around the state, during next one month as a part of the BJP campaign for the forthcoming state assembly election.
Meanwhile, the state core committee of the BJP led by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Thursday shortlisted candidates of the party from constituencies namely Pernem, Calangute, Quepem, Poriem, Mayem and Curtorim, for the state assembly polls, after interacting with members of the respective BJP mandals and party workers from these electoral constituencies.
Coming out with the information that national BJP president Amit Shah will officially launch the election campaign of the party in Goa on January 22 or 23, South Goa Member of Parliament, Narendra Sawaikar, addressing a press conference Thursday evening said that the Prime Minister will address two public meetings in the state. “The dates would be announced soon,” he added.
“Furthermore, Union Minister for Home Affairs, Rajnath Singh, Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Venkaiah Naidu, Union Textile Minister, Smriti Irani, and former chief minister of Karnataka B S Yeddyurappa are also expected to address public meetings around Goa,” Sawaikar stated, adding that the Union Minister for Road Transport, Nitin Gadkari, who is also the election in-charge of the party for Goa will camp here for four days and address ten election rallies. He also informed that Chief Minister of Maharashtra Devendra Fadnavis has agreed to address 4 to 5 election rallies of the party in the state, during two days.
“Our local leaders Manohar Parrikar, Shripad Naik, Laxmikant Parsekar and Francis D’Souza too would be addressing rallies,” the South Goa MP stated, maintaining that the exuberance of the BJP party workers already indicates a big win for the BJP.
Speaking further, Sawaikar said that the state core committee of the BJP has already shortlisted the names of the party’s candidates for the Pernem, Calangute, Quepem, Poriem, Mayem and Curtorim constituencies. “There is more than one candidate in some of these constituencies and all the names would be soon forwarded to the state election committee of the party, which, in turn, will forward them to the national BJP Parliamentary Board,” he maintained, stating that till date, BJP candidates for 28 electoral constituencies have been shortlisted.
It may be recalled that BJP had announced its plan to contest the 2017 state assembly polls in 37 electoral constituencies.
Reacting to the withdrawal of support by the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party to the BJP on Thursday, the South Goa MP maintained that in a democratic setup, every political party is free to take its decision. When asked to comment on the possible post-poll BJP-MGP alliance, Sawaikar said that no one can predict the future in the arena of politics.
Replying to a question as to whether the BJP, in comparison with other political parties, has won the first round by already holding public meetings in most of the electoral constituencies in the form of its Vijay Sankalp rallies, the South Goa MP answered in negative. “We have had held those rallies just to mobilise our cadre,” he maintained, stating that the BJP is, however, fully geared up to face the state assembly election.
Sawaikar, retorting at the decision of the Aam Aadmi Party to already declare its chief ministerial candidate for Goa in the form of Elvis Gomes, said that BJP does not work in a reverse way like AAP. “The BJP will decide its chief minister in consultation with the national BJP Parliamentary Board,” he noted.
Admitting that Congress party as the main national opposition party is the number one rival of BJP at the forthcoming state assembly election, the South Goa MP said that the BJP will, however, win the election by a big margin.
