PANAJI
The suspense over BJP's candidates for Goa's two Lok Sabha seats continued as Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a late-night meeting of the party's Central Election Committee.
Sources indicated that the party may name a chunk of candidates before the election dates are announced.
No names were announced during the crucial meeting at the time of going to the Press. Minister of State for Tourism, Ports, and Waterways, Shripad Naik, remained a hot contender for the North Goa Lok Sabha seat, while former Deputy Chief Minister Chandrakant Kavlekar was seen as the South Goa choice.
The meeting commenced around 10 pm at BJP headquarters in New Delhi on Thursday and saw key BJP leaders including Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP National President J P Nadda. PM Modi joined around 11pm after which he addressed the Chief Ministers followed by one-to-one meetings that was expected to go well past 3 am. At the time of going to the Press, Sawant was yet to be called in.
Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath was the first to emerge from the CEC meeting.
Earlier on Thursday afternoon, CM Pramod Sawant and BJP State President Sadanand Shet Tanavade had flown to Delhi to attend the crucial meeting.
On Wednesday, both the leaders submitted report cards of each probable candidate to the BJP Parliamentary Board in New Delhi to facilitate finalizing names.
