MARGAO/PANAJI
The Bharatiya Janata Party leadership took the platform of the birthday celebrations of State party chief Damu Naik to give a call to the people of Goa to bring back again the party to power in the 2027 Assembly polls with 27 seats.
Damu in particular said though the party’s percentage of vote might have hovered around 33 per cent in the 2022 Assembly polls, he reminded that the percentage of votes touched a whopping 51 per cent in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls due to the hard work of party workers and leaders.
Right from Chief Minister Pramod Sawant to Water Resources Department Minister Subhash Shirodkar to PWD Minister Digambar Kamat, they expressed confidence that the BJP has come to stay not just in the Country, but in Goa as well. Besides the trio, party leaders, including MLA Krishna Salkar, former MP Narendra Sawaikar, former MLA Clafacio Dias and thousands of party workers and well wishers of Damu Naik from all corners of the state came to wish him at the Samrat garden on Saturday evening.
In his brief address, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said the return of the double engine government in 2027 is dependent on the party workers, even as he urged them to brace up for the upcoming electoral battle.
In their address, WRD Minister Subhash Shirodkar has said that the party has come to stay in Goa, adding that the people of Goa will take a call how long they want the BJP to rule the state.
PWD Minister Digambar Kamat exuded confidence that party will return back to power in the 2027 election and urged the workers to work hard for the party’s success.
Earlier, Damodar Naik chose Chief Minister Pramod Sawant's Sanquelim constituency to make his 2027 goal public -- winning 27 seats, with the party's old as well as 'new' horses.
Interestingly, Naik chose to begin his birthday in Sawant's constituency where he visited the Rudreshwar temple in Harvalem.
Later while speaking at a gathering of party leaders and workers, Naik said he prayed that the '27 in 27' slogan of the party becomes a reality at the next Assembly elections.
"Our resolve is to win 27 seats in 2027 by forging an united force of 'old' as well as 'new' party leaders and workers," Naik said in an apparent reference to politicians who joined the saffron fold from other parties.
Naik said, he sought the strength for the party to achieve the goal from Shri Dev Rudreshwar. He also said he prayed for the well being and prosperity of the people of Goa.
Among those in the audience were Sawant, his wife Sulakshana Sawant, Rajya Sabha MP Sadanand Shet Tanawade, former ministers Dayanand Mandrekar and Jayesh Salgaonkar, former MLAs Shyam Satardekar and Kiran Kandolkar, the President of Rudreshwar Devasthan Yashwant Madkar, Dayanand Karbotkar, Sushant Pednekar, other leaders of the Bhandari community and a large number of party supporters who all had gathered at Harvalem.
