VASCO
BJP Organising Secretary Satish Dhond paid a surprise visit to Mormugao Municipal Council (MMC) Councillor Krishna (Daji) Salkar on Wednesday, amid plans to get him back into the BJP.
Sources said efforts were underway to bring Salkar back into the BJP, but the meeting remained inconclusive with Salkar’s supporters insisting that Salkar will not return to BJP till some concrete assurances of a post in a government department or an election ticket are made.
“Yes, Dhond did visit Salkar’s office and there was a long meeting between them. The BJP has offered Salkar the same respect he had earlier in the BJP if he joined the party again,” said a source.
“Salkar told Dhond that he would take a call only after consulting his supporters. We were invited and in no time around 100 supporters reached his office. We attended the entire meeting.”
“The BJP wants Salkar back but is not willing to give any assurances. We have demanded the BJP ticket to him and he be made chairperson of the PDA.”
“He had won elections as councillor thrice and with the highest margin in Goa. He was denied MMC chairmanship and was later removed from PDA where he was the chairman. To add insult to injury, he was later denied a BJP ticket,” said the supporter.
When contacted, Salkar said the meeting had remained inconclusive and that a final call would be taken only after feedback from his supporters.
It may be recalled that Salkar, after being denied a BJP ticket in the 2017 assembly polls, had quit the BJP and contested as an independent candidate.
Salkar came second in the election and polled around 7,500 votes, with BJP MLA Carlos Almeida winning by a margin of 1,300 votes.
Recently, MMC Chairperson Kritesh Gaonkar had joined the BJP in the presence of Urban Development Minister Milind Naik and Rajya Sabha MP Vinay Tendulkar during a big ceremony at Panaji and efforts had been afoot to bring back Salkar into the party.
