MAPUSA
Seeking to downplay the meeting of party dissidents in Mapusa, the BJP on Friday said it was just a “get-together” of some senior leaders who were an “inspiration” to juniors in the party.
“Ours is a democratic party. It was not a meeting as such, it was just a get-together which any leader is free to have at any point of time,” said Dattaprasad Naik, spokesman of BJP.
The BJP spokesman was responding to Thursday’s meeting held by senior BJP leaders at the residence of Mapusa MLA Francisco D’Souza.
Attempts to contact BJP President Vinay Tendulkar and other executive members failed as they were either not responding to calls or refused to speak on the matter.
Naik said all those who met yesterday (Thursday) were senior leaders who knew what is good and bad for the party.
“For a person like me and definitely for all of us, they are our inspiration and they will definitely do what is good for the party,” he said.
On former chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar’s demand for change in party set-up, he said no such proposal came before the party.
“No such point has been made in any of the party meetings. So I would not like to make comments on media reports…,” he said.
Naik also said the party will come out from any difficult circumstances and emerge stronger.
“Parsekar Sir, Dayanand Mandrekar, Francis D’Souza, Vinay Tendulkar and all our senior leaders are our inspiration. They have taught us many things in politics and I am confident that they will take us through from whatever tough situations we come across,” he said.
On Thursday, five BJP dissident leaders led by former chief minister, Laxmikant Parsekar held a two-hour meeting at the residence of Mapusa MLA.
Besides Parsekar, D’Souza and Mandrekar who were present for the meeting are members of the BJP core committee, former industries minister and BJP leader from Shiroda, Mahadev Naik and former Speaker and BJP leader from Mayem also attended the meet.
After the meeting, Parsekar said that the group’s one point agenda was to bring changes in the party setup, including changing the party president.
He also stressed that the high command would have to intervene and take necessary action in the matter.
The former CM also said in one meeting everything cannot be discussed and that they would meet again to plan the future course of action.
