After Salcete rout, BJP on revival path

the goan I networkrMARGAOrWill the local BJP leadership exercise the option of roping in Mauvin Godinho or Nilesh Cabral, or for that matter Alina Saldanha or Carlos Almeida to revive the party’s fortunes in minority Salcete, where the party suffered a complete rout in the 2017 Assembly election? rBJP national president Amit Shah’s diktat to party MLAs to nurse the constituencies in their neighbourhood represented by the Congress may leave the local party leadership with no option than to knock the doors of these party Catholic MLAs from Mormugao and Curchorem to be part of the party’s revival campaign in Salcete. rFor, the BJP had drawn a blank in minority Salcete in the 2017 Assembly election, losing all the eight seats, with the Congress winning six seats, and the remaining two going in favour of NCP and Goa Forward party. rWhen The Goan drew the attention of the BJP president Vinay Tendulkar on how the party will go about in Salcete when the party doesn’t have a single MLA in the taluka, Tendulkar insisted that the BJP has an organization in certain parts of the taluka, which will take care of reviving the organizations in the constituencies. “As far as some of the minority-dominated constituencies are concerned, the leadership can ask party MLAs, including Minister Mauvin Godinho, Alina Saldanha, Nilesh Cabral and Carlos Almeida to help and assist the party in the task of strengthening the organization,” he said. rTendulkar, however, hastened to add that the party organization is strong in certain constituencies such as Fatorda, Margao and Cuncolim, adding that the party has a sizeable presence in Navelim and Curtorim as well. “The party will revive the party in these constituencies with the help of office bearers and the party rank and file. The process will soon kick off after the visit of the BJP national general secretary to Goa on July 7,” he said. rAsked whether the BJP had suffered a huge setback in the minority heartland of Salcete in the 2017 election when the party failed to win a single seat out of the eight seats at stake, Tendulkar said “I would not say the result was a setback for the party. We have accepted the mandate of the people. The BJP had represented Cuncolim in the last term and the party will certainly find out how the party lost the seat and the area where the party has lacked in reaching out to the people”. rSaying that the party will take corrective steps in all constituencies, including minority Salcete, Tendulkar said that the party will try to build a strong organization ahead of the Lok Sabha elections scheduled two years from now in 2019. rIn the February 2017 Assembly election, neither the party opened an account in Salcete, nor its alliance partners, including ex-Fisheries Minister, Avertano Furtado managed to retain the seat, giving a huge advantage to the Congress in the final tally of seats.