Shripad not to contest Assembly poll, Khot may be out
GOANEWS DESK, PANAJI | 06 December 2011 21:51 IST
The Bharatiya Janata Party is in a mood to decide not to field North Goa MP Shripad Naik from Porvorim in the forthcoming Assembly election.
Similarly, Canacona MLA Vijay Pai Khot may not get ticket, but Poinguinim MLA Ramesh Tawadkar.
Merging both the constituencies, the whole taluka will once again have only one constituency.
All other sitting MLAs will however be fielded once again as party candidates.
In addition, the party has also almost finalised candidates for four constituencies – Pernem, Aldona, Calangute and Curchorem.
The sitting legislators are Laxmikant Parsekar (Pernem), Anant Shet (Mayem), Francisco D’Souza (Mapusa), Dayanand Mandrekar (Siolim), Dilip Parulekar (Saligao), Manohar Parrikar (Panaji), Mahadev Naik (Shiroda), Milind Naik (Mormugao), Damu Naik (Fatorda) and Vasudev Meng Gaonkar (Sanguem).
Two BJP legislators – Rajesh Patnekar (Bicholim) and Dayanand Sopte (Pernem) – have already quit the party recently to join the ruling Congress.
While Dabolim and Porvorim are the two new constituencies being constituted, it was almost certain that North MP Shripad Naik would quit the Parliamentary responsibility to enter Goan political arena, this time from Porvorim.
Highly placed sources however now reveal that the BJP central leadership has decided otherwise, while keeping Shripad in the national capital.
The party is also likely to favour Tawadkar from Canacona, thereby freeing Khot to decide whether to join the Congress to contest from the southernmost taluka.
The other four names party believed to have almost finalised are Rajendra Arlekar (Pernem), Glen Ticlo (Aldona), Michael Lobo (Calangute) and Nilesh Cabral (Curchorem).
The saffron party, it is learnt, is still undecided about Quepem between former MLA Prakash Shankar Velip and Prakash Arjun Velip, who quit the post of private secretary of chief minister Digambar Kamat.
Similarly, the party is still indecisive about fielding re-entered Dr Suresh Amonkar (BJP’s former president and minister) while denying ticket to Dr Pramod Sawant, who had lost a by-election of Pale, now renamed as Sanquelim.
Similarly, no decision has been arrived at Margao, Bicholim, Sanvordem, Poriem, Dabolim and Vasco.
Reports indicate that the BJP is still toying with the idea of striking a pre-poll alliance with the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party, one of the alliance partner in the Congress-led coalition today.
