MARGAO
The Bhandari Samaj community is hogging all the limelight on the news these days with its leaders making a case for a chief minister from this section of the Goan society.
And, rightfully, political parties are jostling to woo the community ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, with Bharatiya Janata Party in the forefront as it has roped in Margao-based Bhandari Samaj leader Sunil Naik, son of former Shiroda MLA K B Naik.
This could mean, BJP has kicked off its campaign as was evident from the induction of Sunil into the party fold on Sunday. BJP MPs Narendra Sawaikar and Vinay Tendulkar, besides Bhandari Samaj leaders, including BJP OBC Cell chief Dayanand Mandrekar, former MLA Damu Naik and Dattaprasad Naik were present.
South Goa MP Narendra Sawaikar tried to wean back the OBCs, including the Bhandari Samaj, which had gone away from the party in the 2017 Assembly election, by saying the BJP has tabled in the Lok Sabha a constitutional amendment to accord constitutional status on the OBCs in the country.
Sawaikar said the BJP has successfully taken along with it people belonging to all sections of the society in the last four-and-half years. He said the country in general and Goa in particular is witnessing a number of developmental projects during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s present stint in office.
In his address, BJP OBC Cell chief Dayanand Mandrekar pegged the population of Bhandari Samaj to around 3.5 lakh. He said along with the Tari community, which has around one lakh population, the two communities together form around 4.5 lakh of Goa’s population.
He underlined the need to strengthen the BJP OBC Cell, saying only the saffron party has worked for the upliftment of the OBCs in the State.
BJP State President and Rajya Sabha MP Vinay Tendulkar said the induction of Sunil into the party is just the beginning, adding that many such meetings will be held across Goa in the coming days and months.
Former Fatorda MLA Damu Naik said the BJP is ready to go all out to retain the two Lok Sabha seats in the State. “Today, we have made a beginning from Margao. Similar meetings will be held in Margao and Vasco as well in the coming days,” Damu added.
In his address, Naik said he had decided to embrace the BJP along with his supporters as he was impressed by the development work carried out by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the last
four years.
“We can see the development not just in the country, but in Goa as well. The amount of infrastructure development taking place between Cortalim and Pernem is tremendous,” he said, while underlining the need to take the party’s development work to the doorsteps of the party workers and the voters.
