PANAJI
Union Home Minister Amit Shah is expected to hold a crucial meeting with the State Bharatiya Janata Party's 'core committee' this evening (Sunday) at the Grand Hyatt in Bambolim during which the party's roadmap may be laid for Goa assembly polls next year.
Although several local BJP leaders confirmed the meeting, none were willing to reveal its agenda but the upcoming elections to 11 municipal councils and the Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP) is likely to feature prominently in the discussions and lend some finality on the question whether the elections should be fought on party lines or not.
Shah is arriving in Goa today from where he will proceed to the neighbouring Sindhudurg district of Maharashtra to attend an inauguration event of a hospital there.
While in Goa, he will also visit Union Minister Shripad Naik who is recuperating after a serious accident in which the latter lost his wife.
Apart from the Sawant-Tanavade duo, other top local BJP leaders who will attend the core committee meeting convened by Shah include State BJP Treasurer Sanjiv Desai, Organising Secretary Satish Dhond, former chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar, former Speaker Rajendra Arlekar, ex-MP and NRI Commissioner Narendra Sawaikar, vice president Datta Kholkar and general secretary Damodar (Damu) Naik.
Party sources said several contentious issues dogging the party including the crucial question of mining resumption, the Mhadei imbroglio, the ongoing agitations against coal and the three linear projects at Mollem, besides the matter of resolving the location of the IIT Goa campus are expected to be deliberated upon and resolution sought at the meeting.
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant may have on Friday publicly stated that the civic elections will not be held on party lines but ambiguity on the issue continues to persist.
Political circles are not ruling out the possibility that Sawant's 'not on party lines' statement could be a mere red-herring to put the Opposition political parties off-guard.
Speculation in political circles therefore persists that the ruling BJP, riding on its sweeping success in the recent Zilla Panchayat polls will opt for holding the civic elections on party lines to seize the initiative and grab 'pole position' of sorts in the run-up to the big prize -- Assembly Elections 2022 -- which are due in the normal course in February-March next year.
Oddly, the party's State unit however failed to build consensus on the issue, with one group led by Panaji MLA Atanasio Monserrate rooting for the civic polls to be held on party lines and others dithering.
The lack of clarity on the issue was further fuelled when BJP State president, Sadanand Shet Tanavade formally conveyed early last week to Sawant the State unit's request to the government against holding the polls on party lines.
Two days later in a flip-flop to respond to Opposition criticism that the ruling party fears it is losing public support due to movement against the Mollem projects, Tanavade said the party is battle-ready to fight the civic polls on party lines but the final call is the government's.
