'BJP MLAs are not for sale' (?)
GOANEWS DESK, PANAJI | 30 November 1999 16:45 IST"Bharatiya Janata Party MLAs are not for sale", party leader Manohar Parrikar has declared amidst rumours that the Congress is planning to come back to power by splitting the BJP.
Parading all the legislators at a press conference held at Hotel Nova Goa yesterday evening, Parrikar has also warned the Congress henchmen of physical violence and filing criminal cases if further advances are made.
"We would literally beat them up", shouts Parrikar, stating that the village-based party cadres have already been alerted about this. He has also thrown up a challenge to split the BJP.
The allegations are primarily against former ministers Churchill Alemao and Sanjay Bandekar as well as newly elected CLP leader Ravi Naik. All three however have later dismissed the allegations.
"They offered me 10 as well as ministerial portfolios of my choice, claiming that three have already agreed and I am the fourth one. I sent them back stating that I would be the last one to split", tells Vishwas Satarkar, young lawyer-turned-politician of Priol.
Vinay Tendulkar (Sanvordem), Ramarao Desai (Curchorem), Prabhakar Gaonkar (Sanguem) and Dayanand Mandrekar (Siolim) narrate similar kind of stories. Some of them were approached directly while some through their relatives and family friends.
Bappa Bhagat, henchman of Alemao, appears to have approached most of them – initially on behalf of Alemao and then Ravi Naik. Bandekar also personally approached few of them.
"Where does this money come from ? If it repeats, we will file complaints before the revenue intelligence and income tax authorities to probe into their wealth", threatens Parrikar. Even attempting to bribe is a criminal offence, he points out.
Though the BJP MLAs also told the media that they belong to an ideological organisation rather than self-seeking political business, the party leadership preferred to be cautious. Keeping in mind today's trust vote, all of them were kept at Hotel Nova Goa.
Rather than their newcomer MLAs, the BJP appears to be relying more upon the hard-core organisational cadres of the Sangh Parivar spread in all the villages. Apparently, they would function as a real pressure lobby on these MLAs, who are being lured.
Meanwhile, Parrikar yesterday clarified that the BJP is playing anchoring role by participating in the government rather than sharing power with the Congress breakaway faction led by chief minister Francisco Sardinha.
"The immediate task before us is to provide stability in the state and provide good governance", he says, while keeping mum over how could they do it when most of the ministers have a different track record.
