the goan I network
MARGAO
The top brass of the BJP including Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and party chief Vinay Tendulkar visited the South Goa office here late Tuesday to explain the circumstances leading to the entry of the 10 Congress MLAs in the party and dropping of the three Goa Forward ministers from the coalition government.
This is the first direct interaction of the BJP top brass with the party workers from the 10 assembly segments as the ruling party faced brickbats on social media as well as from the opposition for conducting a surgical strike on the Congress as well as the Goa Forward Party.
With critics within the party and outside questioning the decision to throw open the doors of the party to the MLAs belonging to the minority community, party leaders reminded that late Manohar Parrikar had made Francisco Sardinha, a Catholic, the Chief Minister of the state.
While addressing the workers, party president Vinay Tendulkar is believed to have maintained that the 10 Congress MLAs were given entry into the party fold with a two-fold objective in mind, one, to ensure stability of the BJP government and to facilitate Chief Minister Pramod Sawant to work without pressure. He is believed to have explained how the Chief Minister was under pressure in matters relating to Porvorim and Siolim constituencies.
Power Minister Nilesh Cabral, Cortalim MLA Alina Saldanha, party organisational secretary Satish Dhond and party leaders from South Goa including outgoing MP Narendra Sawaikar, former Cuncolim MLA Rajan Naik, South Goa ZP Chairperson Navnath Naik, former Fatorda MLA Damu Naik, local BJP leaders, Rupesh Mahatme, Sharmad Raiturkar, Chandan Nayak and others attended the meeting.
