NT NETWORK
PANAJI
Expressing confidence that the Manohar Parrikar government will complete its tenure regardless of the prediction made by the Congress party about collapse of the government, state president of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Vinay Tendulkar on Wednesday said that neither incidents of lynching of people from the minority community nor beef ban are key issues in Goa, and therefore they won’t affect the prospects of his party in the state, at the 2019 Lok Sabha election.
Addressing a press conference in the city to inform about the arrival of the national BJP president Amit Shah in Goa on July 1, Tendulkar further said that although Shah would be providing inputs to the state BJP unit about the strategy to be adopted by the party for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, there would be no discussion on the said two issues about which there is no anxiety among the Goan people. “We will be facing this election by taking along all Goan people and will win it,” he added.
Speaking further, the state BJP chief stated that the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party leader Ramakrishna Dhavalikar and Goa Forward Party leader Vijai Sardesai have already publicly stated that they would support the Parrikar government for all five years, and therefore, the government is very much safe. “In fact, it is because of the demand of Dhavalikar and Sardesai that Parrikar had to come back to Goa to lead the government,” he quipped.
Tendulkar also said that the Goa visit of Shah is a part of his all-India 115-day tour, which has been undertaken to strengthen the BJP organisation, as well as finalise the strategy for the 2019 Lok Sabha election to retain power at the Centre.
The BJP MLA Nilesh Cabral, coming out with information about the programmes of Shah during his two-day visit, said that the national BJP president will arrive in the morning of July 1 and will be welcomed by the Chief Minister, the state party chief, and four BJP MLAs from the Mormugao constituency. “Shah will then visit Azad Maidan in the city and pay tributes at the Martyrs Memorial,” Cabral informed, stating that the ministers and BJP MLAs would be meeting Shah over lunch.
“The same evening at 4 O’clock Shah will meet the elected representatives of the self-governing bodies like municipalities, Zilla Panchayats and village panchayats,” Cabral stated, noting that later in the evening, the national BJP president would be interacting with the Goan professionals like doctors, engineers, chartered accountants, advocates, businessmen and so on. “Finally, late evening, Shah would be meeting the state office bearers of the BJP,” he mentioned.
On July 2, the national BJP president will address the state in-charge of the party for 2019 Lok Sabha election and brief them about the party’s strategy for the election. Shah will also visit South Goa in the afternoon to inaugurate the district BJP office at Margao, followed by this departure.
Cabral stated that the state BJP unit will receive 2019 Lok Sabha election-related inputs from Shah and work according to them.
Replying to a question, Tendulkar said that the BJP will decide about its candidate for the forthcoming election of the Rajya Sabha member from Goa, after consulting its coalition partners in the government.