MARGAO
“No Salcete mission”, State BJP president Sadanand Tanavade swore on Wednesday, but the saffron brigade seemed working on a plan to strengthen the party in the taluka ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Wednesday saw Tanavade descending in Saxttidom to induct a group into the party-fold from minority Velim, which has given huge leads for Congress in every Parliamentary election.
Tanavade welcomed the workers in the presence of BJP Velim candidate for the 2022 polls, Savio Rodrigues, former deputy chief minister Chandrakant Kavlekar and party general secretary Damu Naik.
While Tanavade did not agree with a suggestion from the scribes that the exercise is part of Mission Salcete, he was quick to point out that BJP may have certain strongholds, but will not neglect the remaining constituencies, including Nuvem, Benaulim, Velim and Curtorim, considered the minority strongholds.
To substantiate his point that the party does not have a particular mission for Salcete, Tanavade said BJP is concentrating on all 40 constituencies.
“No one had imagined that BJP would win Navelim, but we had started work in the constituency for the last many months which paved the way for Lotus to bloom,” he said.
He added: “Being a national party, we cannot bank on any particular constituency or stronghold, but have to strengthen the party in every nook and corner.”
Saying the party is fully geared up to face the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Tanavade said BJP will win both the Lok Sabha seats in the coming polls. “The BJP has won almost every election since 2020, from the Zilla Panchayat, Municipality, Assembly and now the panchayats. I am confident that the party will win the 2024 Lok Sabha elections as well,” he said.
To a question, Tanavade said he cannot unveil the names of the BJP candidates for Lok Sabha polls, saying the party will set in motion the process to shortlist nominees in the coming months.
On the recently held panchayat polls, Tanavade said people of Goa have by and large elected party workers who had contested individually since the elections were not held on party lines.
Taking a dig at Congress Quepem MLA Altone D’Costa, Tanavade said the candidates fielded by former minister Chandrakant Kavlekar have won in many wards. “Even the MLA’s brother Sanzil has lost the election. If the MLA could not get his brother elected, it appears that he had won a lottery in the Assembly polls,” he added.
No MLA has approached us to join ruling party, reiterates Tanavade
MARGAO:
State BJP president Sadanand Tanavade on Wednesday reiterated that no one has approached him or Chief Minister Pramod Sawant to join the ruling party.
Fielding questions on reports doing the rounds in political circles that eight Congress MLAs are about to embrace BJP, Tanavade said he had also read the same news in the media, but no one has so far approached the party for admission.
“We have no idea whether the MLAs willing to switch sides are holding talks in Delhi, but we have no specific information that Congress MLAs are likely to embrace BJP”, he asserted.
He further said he has no information on whether four more councillors have planned to join the BJP at Margao Municipal Council, saying the party has so far only inducted councillor Mahesh Amonkar into the party-fold.
