Politics
Has Goa BJP closed its doors on inflow of leaders from other parties?
PANAJI: Has the Goa BJP unit closed its doors on taking in leaders from other parties? Well senior state leaders said no. But with a rider. Those who wish to join the BJP to work for Goa and for the party are most welcome, but those who join the party with the sole intention of getting a “ticket” may have to first prove themselves and wait for a term, said a senior party leader.
According to a Hindustan Times report, state panchayat and transport minister Mauvin Godinho said on Thursday,”the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) cannot accommodate any more leaders from other parties in Goa”.
This statement has apparently not gone down too well with other senior leaders in the BJP. Another senior BJP leader and former MLA said those who wish to join the BJP are welcome.
Godinho, a former Congressman who joined the BJP ahead of the 2017 assembly elections, said the party doesn’t have any more place to ‘accommodate’ leaders from other parties who wish to join the BJP.
“We do not want more, it creates confusion… we don’t have place. Where will you accommodate them? This is our situation,” Mauvin Godinho told media persons while speaking about the BJP’s prospects in the upcoming state polls early next year.
The ruling BJP has a strength of 27 MLAs in the 40-member house after it roped in 13 Congress MLAs as well as two MLAs from the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party to switch sides with the most recent being the ‘en masse’ switch over by 10 Congress MLAs in July 2019. The Congress, which won 17 seats in the last elections, is now down to just 5 MLAs.
The BJP claims it is confident of retaining a majority on its own with or without an alliance.
But the induction of leaders from rival parties has created its own set of problems, particularly since it had to reward the lawmakers who joined the party after the elections at the cost of the party stalwarts, HT reported.
Several of these leaders, most prominently former chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar, have already staked their ‘rightful’ claim to the party’s ticket though the seat he once represented now being represented by his rival who won on the Congress ticket but is now in the BJP.
Rivalries between MLAs too has come to the fore with Godinho himself squaring up against his party colleagues Michael Lobo and Alina Saldanha over each other’s ‘performance’ over the last few years.