the goan I network
CANACONA
State BJP president Vinay Tendulkar’s rather mild response to former BJP minister Ramesh Tawadkar’s recent outburst against his former party have led to speculations in Canacona that BJP may have deliberately gone soft on Tawadkar with a specific purpose in mind.
During a news conference at the Canacona BJP office on Wednesday, Tendulkar was promptly asked to respond to Tawadkar’s decision to contest the Lok Sabha polls and his recent outburst against the BJP that it was an ‘Anti-Bahujan Private Limited Company’.
In a mild response, Tendulkar said, “We cannot reply to each and every allegation being made every now and then. The party is strong and we a minimum of 11 booth level leaders in all booths of the state and we will win both the north and south Lok Sabha seats.”
“As to his allegation regarding the party’s injustice to the Bahujan Samaj and its leaders, I am the BJP state president and am also from the Bahujan community. I was given positions I have never dreamt about and the party even made me an MP of the Rajya Sabha,” Tendulkar added.
Tendulkar’s soft response to Tawadkar fuelled speculations that the BJP may be planning to reach out to Tawadkar, either to welcome him back into the party or to persuade him to avoid contesting the polls in favour of the BJP candidate.
Asked to respond to Tendulkar’s mild comments against Tawadkar, Canacona BJP Block President Mahesh Naik was also puzzled about Tendulkar’s approach, but insisted that BJP had no plans to bring back Tawadkar.
“I don’t know why our State BJP President Vinay Tendulkar reacted softly towards Tawadkar’s strong statements against BJP. But there are certainly no moves, at least at present, to welcome Tawadkar back into the BJP,” said Naik, who spoke over phone from Bangalore en route to Singapore.
Incidentally, the Canacona BJP had recently lashed out at Tawadkar for targeting the BJP, accusing their former mentor of being a traitor to his own ST community.
Naik had severely criticised Tawadkar for claiming that the BJP had been against the Bahujan Samaj and its leaders, adding that his claims that local BJP leaders were in touch with him were also flawed.
“Tawadkar was given BJP tickets four times and whatever he reaped as MLA and minister is because of the BJP and now, he has the audacity to describe the same party an ‘Anti-Bahujan Private Limited Company’. This only shows his vested interests,” Naik had said.
