MAPUSA
State BJP President Sadanand Tanavde on Thursday said the ongoing agitation against the three linear projects will have no impact on the BJP in the imminent Zilla Panchayat elections but stressed that there was need to do a rethink if the projects affected the people.
“Our voters have nothing to do with the ongoing protests and therefore, it won’t affect the prospects of the BJP in the elections. However, the government and the party are on the same page of reconsidering certain decisions if at all any of the projects are going to affect the people,” Tanavde said.
The BJP chief was speaking to the media at the sidelines of a function to inaugurate a blood donation camp in Mapusa.
Continuing, Tanavde said he was confident that the electorate would repose faith in the BJP and elect its candidates in the ZP polls.
“The people of Goa will elect our candidates and our nominees will head both the North and South Goa ZP posts after the elections,” he said.
According to the BJP state chief, it was quite normal to witness agitations instigated by the opposition close to the assembly elections.
“This time, they made a big mistake by starting it very early. It should have been done just two or three months before the assembly polls which are due in Goa in 2022,” he said.
The State has been experiencing a series of protests spearheaded by civil groups against coal, double tracking of railways, power project in Mollem and expansion of national highway.
Although these protests are mostly confined to the South Goa, people in North also erupted against government plans to set up an IIT project in Melauli village of Valpoi.
The BJP state president also expressed his unhappiness over public ranting indulged by some party legislators.
“Certain issues can be discussed within the party rather than addressing it in the media. All ministers are colleagues of one another and asking someone to be dropped from the government in public does not augur well,” Tanavde said.
He said if at all any decision has to be taken to rejig the ministries, it would be done by the party along with the chief minister.
He, however, said there were no plans of either reshuffling of portfolios or dropping of ministers from the cabinet.
