the goan I network
PERNEM
Still fuming with anger after being kept in the dark by his party over the entry of arch rival and former Congress MLA Dayanand Sopte into the BJP, former chief minister and BJP leader Laxmikant Parsekar on Friday called upon Mandrem block BJP workers to defeat the “defectors” in the upcoming by-polls.
Sopte and Subhash Shirodkar had resigned as Congress MLAs and joined the BJP party, sparking off bitter accusations between parties and intense debates across the State.
Addressing a large gathering of BJP office bearers and workers at a booth level meeting in Mandrem, Parsekar made it clear that they would not express their anger at the party, but people would teach the defectors a lesson.
Parsekar appealed to the BJP leadership to give the party ticket to any loyal party worker, even if they were not willing to consider him for the by-poll.
Without naming Sopte even once in his fiery speech, Parsekar made indirect references to Sopte by stating, “One person betrayed our party in 2012 and now our leadership should not betray the people of Mandrem constituency by relying on that person. It will be an insult to those who are very loyal to the party.”
Incidentally, Sopte had resigned from the BJP and had joined the Congress prior to the 2012 assembly polls, only to be defeated by Parsekar. Sopte then took revenge and defeated Parsekar in the 2017 polls, only to switch parties on Wednesday.
“The person who was elected by voters of Mandrem left his party and his voters within 15 months, so how can anyone trust him? He claims to have gone to New Delhi for business, what was that business,” asked Parsekar.
Parsekar told the gathering that the party had not taken him into confidence when Dayanand Sopte was admitted into the BJP.
State BJP President Vinay Tendulkar casually called me on phone and only told me that Sopte is joining the BJP. I scolded him over this decision,” Parsekar said.
He blamed Tendulkar, Datta Kholkar and Sadanand Tanavade for the developments leading to the entry of Sopte and Shirodkar into the BJP.
At one time Parsekar even got emotional when he claimed that a lot of injustice had been done to him by his party. “Despite this injustice, I will work to strengthen my party and appeal to my all loyal workers to achieve this goal,” said Parsekar.
ZP member Arun Bankar, former ZP member Deepak Calangutkar, Pernem BJP Mahila Morcha President Vilasini Naik, State BJP executive committee member Jagannath Parsekar and Sadguru Naik also spoke at the meeting and vowed to defeat Sopte in the forthcoming by-election.
