PANAJI
Witnessing a churning of sorts, the ruling BJP is facing a restive cadre in several of the constituencies, more so in the 10 represented by MLAs who defected to the party from the Congress.
Known to be a cadre-based party in Goa, it earlier had a strong fleet of loyal workers but is getting disoriented now with the internal bickerings and neglect of workers by the top BJP leaders.
This disorientation is seen more in the ten constituencies in which the Congress MLAs have been shifted to the BJP.
Some of the frustrated workers now feel that the importance they were getting earlier during the tenure of Manohar Parrikar is missing and they are being neglected by the party leaders.
“The leaders who were active during Parrikar’s tenure are systematically being kept out of active party politics”, lamented one leader.
One of the prominent women leaders who held a prominent post in the women’s wing of the party said that now the women leaders who are working on the ground are being neglected by the party.
If this continues then these leaders will not work for the party and will choose some other political option like Deepak Kalangutkar who joined Goa Forward.
One other leader said that three leaders in BJP are taking all decisions which many workers don’t like and this has created a rift in the party.
“If this continues then the party will have to face the consequences in the upcoming elections,” he said. During Parrikar era the BJP workers were treated well, he added.
Some of the women leaders are not happy with the newly appointed Mahila wing committee neglecting prominent women leaders.
Many women leaders have boycotted the BJP meeting and other programmes in protest and are in talks with other party leaders.
The feeling of dissatisfaction can be easily seen in BJP workers in Panaji constituency. The workers say that the way Babush Monserratte is interfering in the BJP structure is not good for the party.
Recently there has been a war of words between former MLA Sidharth Kunkoliencar and Babush loyalist Mayor Uday Madkaikar.
