MAPUSA
Taken aback by the sudden surge among the BJP-men openly expressing the desire to contest the upcoming assembly elections in the State, State BJP President Sadanand Tanavade on Friday said the BJP does not differentiate between new and old members while selecting a candidate.
He said there was nothing wrong for someone to have an aspiration to contest an election but warned party-men from going to the media with their expectations.
“Someone who joins the party becomes a BJP member. BJP tickets cannot be declared by us. No one can declare their own ticket. We have a system. As a party president even I cannot commit,” Tanavade said.
“Once an election is declared, the party declares the state election committee. That committee gets recommendations. Winning is our criteria, among other things,” he added.
The State BJP chief was responding to a query on how BJP would strike a balance between demands for tickets from core party workers like Tawadkar and Parsekar and the neo-entrants in the party.
Continuing, Tanavade said there was nothing wrong if someone has an aspiration to contest an election but once the party declares a candidate everyone should back that candidate.
He said the party was growing in the State and therefore there were bound to be many aspirants who wanted to contest the election.
“I see it as positive when there are so many aspirants. But to give the ticket is not in my hands. We only recommend names to the parliamentary board. Once a final decision is taken on the candidature then everyone should support that candidate,” he said.
According to the BJP chief the party has grown in the State only on the support of its karyakartas and the people of the State.
“I have decided I will work and give an absolute majority for the party in the 2022 assembly elections. If I can convince the 4/5 aspirants to back out for the sake of the party then I will consider it a big achievement for me,” the party chief said, admitting that in several constituencies there were multiple aspirants.
He also said that the assembly election was seven months away and it was not right to decide on the candidates right now.
