CANACONA
Boosted with the backing of eight ruling councillors of Canacona Municipal Council (CMC), BJP candidate Ramesh Tawadkar said many block members have already returned to the party and the others would also fall in line in the next few days.
Tawadkar has been facing an uphill campaign in Canacona constituency with two BJP candidates contesting as independents and several block members campaigning for the rebel candidates.
Addressing a news conference in Canacona, Tawadkar said the party’s central and state leadership have reposed faith in him by allotting him the party ticket. “Except for development which I had executed for five years and though there was a BJP MLA for the last 2 1/2 years, show me a single work worth Rs 1-2 crore in Canacona,” said Tawadkar.
“Over 400 youth and 1000 Karyakartas are campaigning for the BJP party in Canacona,” he added.
To a specific query, Tawadkar said he did not see any anti-BJP wave in Canacona and also sought to downplay the absence of Canacona BJP block and BJYM members at his campaign. “The Mahila Shakti is strongly rallying behind me, while many block members have already retirned to the party and rest will also fall in line in the next few days. Besides, we have enough teams in all 59 booths and karyakartas are tirelessly working for the party’s success,” he added.
CMC Chairperson Simon Rebello defended the decision of the eight ruling councillors to back the BJP.
“Though we had declared withdrawal of support to the BJP State government, we now have a new BJP face in Canacona and hence, decided to support the party. For 9 months, the then BJP MLA in Canacona did not support us and we have come out strongly in support of Tawadkar and we are working for BJP’s success,” said Rebello.
BJP State Secretary Sarvanand Bhagat, District Vice-President Mahesh Naik, Block secretary Diwakar Pagi, Shristhal Panch Ganesh Gaonkar and all eight ruling CMC councillors were present at the news conference.
