Union MOS Shripad Naik’s name finalized for North Goa Lok Sabha, announcement today or tomorrow

NEW DELHI: Member of Parliament and Union Minister for State, Shripad Naik’s name has been finalized for the North Goa Lok Sabha seat, by the BJP high command and an official announcement to this effect is likely to be made either today or tomorrow, sources in Delhi said.

Deliberations and discussions regarding the South Goa seat are still going on and the decision on the matter was differed for a second round of meetings. An official announcement regarding the South Goa seat will be made in the next 4-5 days, a senior BJP leader in Delhi who was part of the marathon meeting yesterday said. As we had reported earlier, the BJP was toying with the idea of a Catholic face and a section within the top echelons of the party wants to further explore the idea.

Meanwhile an elated Shripad Naik who also attended the earlier series of meetings in Delhi said, if the BJP gives him another chance, he will break the winning record in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. Speaking to Goan media persons on Friday, Naik claimed that the BJP will win both the Lok Sabha seats in Goa.

“The party is strengthened with the Congress MLAs joining the BJP and we will win with huge margins. I will try to double my winning margin if the party gives me one more chance,” he added.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a late-night meeting of the party’s Central Election Committee which was attended by several top BJP leaders. Goa CM Dr Pramod Sawant was also part of the meeting that included Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP National President J P Nadda, besides Rajnath Singh and other senior members.

Union Minister of State for Tourism, Ports, and Waterways, Shripad Naik was finalized for North Goa and media reports claimed former Deputy Chief Minister Chandrakant ‘Babu’ Kavlekar was neck to neck with NRI Commissioner Narendra Sawaikar for the South Goa seat.

The meeting began at around 10 pm at the BJP headquarters in New Delhi and PM Modi joined the group around 11 pm after which he addressed the Chief Ministers of various states, followed by one-to-one meetings with various State groups that went on well past 4 am. Sources claimed the meeting went on till the early morning and another round will be held over the weekend to finalize the second list of candidates.