the goan I network
PANAJI
Former Tivim MLA, Sadanand Shet Tanavade emerged the surprise ‘unanimous’ choice for the prestigious State president’s post of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of former Fatorda MLA, Damodar (Damu) Naik.
Shet Tanavade, currently the State general secretary, was the lone candidate who filed his nomination for the post on Saturday making the declaration of his election to the top party post on Sunday a mere formality. “Tanavade will be declared as the state president of the Goa unit of the ruling party. The formal announcement will be made on Sunday,” CM Pramod Sawant said on Saturday.
“Tanavade is the only candidate who has been nominated for the post. And as there is only one candidate, he is elected unopposed. The formal decision and appointment will be done on Sunday in presence of BJP national vice president Avinash Rai Khanna,” Govind Parvatkar who was the returning officer for the party presidential election told reporters at the state BJP headquarters on Saturday.
Tanawade will take charge from Rajya Sabha MP Vinay Tendulkar, who has already served as the state president for the maximum possible two consecutive terms of three years each.
The non-controversial and amiable nature is what is said to have tipped the scales in favour of Tanavade over the articulate Damu Naik who was the favourite to take over the party reigns from Tendulkar, according to a senior party leader who did not wish to be identified.
Naik could not be contacted for his reaction to the developments as his phone was switched off. Signs that Naik was the front-runner for the top party post were visible when he was not appointed to any position in State-owned Corporations or government autonomous bodies.
Apart from Naik, former South Goa MP and current NRI Commissioner, Narendra Sawaikar was also in the zone of consideration for the position.
Incidentally Damu Naik was also the hot favourite to be the State president of the BJP in 2014 but lost out to Tendulkar at the eleventh hour apparently due to caste calculations and his individual equations with other important party leaders, including former chief minister, the late Manohar Parrikar.
Another factor that weighed in favour of Tanavade over Naik is the challenge before the party to ideologically and otherwise integrate the 10 Congressmen who defected to the party last July.
