PANAJI: The national president of the Bharatiya Janata Party Amit Shah will be honoured by the state BJP unit along with the Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, at a special programme to be held at the Campal ground, in the city, on April 9, at 5 p. m.
Coming out with this information, the state BJP general secretary Sadanand Tanavde said that the Minister for Road Transport and Highways, and Shipping Nitin Gadkari would remain present at the grand event to be attended by 25,000 people, including party workers, and supporters of the BJP.
Tanavde, addressing a press conference at the BJP headquarters, in the presence of the state BJP president Vinay Tendulkar said that Shah is being felicitated for achieving the task of getting BJP into power in 17 Indian states.
“Shah, who works for 16 to 17 hours every day, ensured that BJP formed its governments or became a part of the governments in these 17 states,” he added, pointing out that at the recent state assembly elections held in five states, Shah managed to get the BJP into power in 4 states, with the exception of Punjab.
“Similarly, Parrikar, when directed by the BJP central leadership to vacate his position as the Defence Minister and come down to Goa to form a government of the party, in spite of having just 13 MLAs, he did just that,” Tanavde said, adding that today, BJP has created a record by registering more than 10 crore people as its members, including 4 lakhs in Goa.
When asked if the state BJP unit would present a report to Shah during his Goa visit, as regards the failure of the party to win majority of the seats at the recently held state assembly election, Tendulkar quipped that the state BJP unit would only present a grand memento to Shah.
It was also informed that the state unit of the BJP has already met during past two days to introspect on the defeat of its important candidates at the state assembly election.
“We have discussed the possible reasons for the same, and would be working to improve the situation as well as strengthening the party,” Tanavde maintained.
When asked as to why not all 4 lakh members of the BJP in Goa voted for the party’s candidates at the state assembly polls, Tanavde said that it is not mandatory for these members to vote for the BJP. “They may have their own preferences,” he noted.