PANAJI
Former Vasco MLA Carlos Almeida, who quit the BJP in December 2021 to join the Congress party, has returned to the ruling party, a move taken just ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
His entry was formally announced at a press conference held in the party headquarters on Tuesday with the ex-MLA heaping praises on Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and BJP State President Sadanand Shet Tanavade.
Speaking to reporters, he cited developmental initiatives spearheaded by the current Vasco MLA Daji Salkar as a motivating factor for his return to the BJP.
With this development, Minister Mauvin Godinho expressed confidence that BJP has further strengthened in South Goa with the ability to secure victory in both parliamentary seats. “BJP will be 370 plus seats and NDA will cross 400 seats. This time too BJP will clinch victory in Goa and across the country,” he added.
Asked about speculations about the re-entry of former CM Laxmikant Parsekar, and Utpal Parrikar into the party, Tanavade stated that it was for the BJP central leadership to decide. Parsekar resigned from the party's primary membership in January 2022 after the party declined his candidature for Mandrem, while Utpal too resigned after he was denied a ticket from Panaji for the assembly polls then.
