MARGAO
Saying he would move the higher court with an appeal against his conviction, senior BJP leader and former Sports Minister Ramesh Tawadkar on Saturday said the case was registered against him on the eve of the 2017 election to paint him in bad light and deny him the BJP ticket to contest the election.
Conceding that the BJP was ruling the state in 2017, Tawadkar said certain state party leaders had conspired against him to deny him the ticket for the Canacona seat. “Certain party leaders were hell bent on denying me the party ticket. In this respect, these party leaders conspired to paint me in bad light in public and achieve the objective,” he said.
While admitting that BJP leaders were responsible behind the Puno Velip episode, Tawadkar said that certain party leaders wanted to somehow give the BJP ticket to Vijay Pai Khot. “In the Puno Velip case, I did not even lay my finger on him, but the police were used to fabricate the case against him at the police station,” he said.
To a question, the former Sports Minister said his conviction in the Velip case will not come in the way of his political career in the BJP. “I do not think the party leaders will use the conviction against me. Except for a brief period, I had been with the BJP. I will soon move the District and Sessions Court with an appeal,” he said, while exuding confidence that he will come clean like in the other three cases filed against him in recent time.
