Talks begin for Goa leadership change
DISCUSSIONS BJP’s leaders and Goa allies meet Amit Shah
PANAJI : Leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies Goa Forward Party (GFP) and Maharashtawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) began talks in the national capital on Wednesday over the possible successor to ailing Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar, according to people privy to the initial discussions, who sought anonymity.
The state’s health minister, Vishwajit Rane, is being seen as one of the front-runners for the job, but there is stiff opposition to his name from some sections of the BJP and the two allies on the grounds that he was with the Congress until March 2017, one of the people cited above said.
“We are working on different scenarios and they will be discussed with the national president (Amit Shah),” said a senior Goa BJP leader who asked not to be named.
Meanwhile, Subhash Shirodkar and Dayanand Sopte, who quit the Congress to join BJP -- in a move orchestrated by Rane, according to functionaries from both parties -- met Parrikar on Wednesday evening at his private residence in Goa.
“Sopte and I met the CM. His health is improving, He said we have his complete support and we should start working in our constituencies,” said Shirodkar.
The Congress’s strength in the Assembly has now shrunk to 14, the same as the BJP, and the strength of house has come down from 40 to 38. The BJP also has the support of three GPF, three MGP, and three independent MLAs.
Over the last few weeks, the Congress has been demanding Goa governor Mridula Sinha to invite the party to form the government on the grounds that it is the single-largest party in the assembly, and the resignation of the two MLAs is a big blow to it.
But the induction of the two Congress legislators into the BJP also led to fireworks in the ruling party’s Goa core committee meeting in Panaji on Wednesday, with some senior leaders speaking up against it. “Do you think I am happy?” asked Laxmikant Parsekar, the former Goa chief minister who was defeated by Sopte in last year’s assembly elections. Parsekar said the Goa government was formed “against the will of the people”. Another former BJP minister and member of the party’s core committee, Dayanand Mandrekar, said that the committee was not informed about the two Congress leaders joining the BJP. “Had this been discussed before the core committee, I would have said its not possible to induct a person who has betrayed the party on election-eve,” he said, referring to Sopte to had moved from the BJP to the Congress last year.
Goa BJP president Vinay Tendulkar said, “Parsekar is an intelligent leader, he is professor, he is a principal and a former CM and former state president. He needs to think before he speaks,” Tendulkar said.