Vinay re-elected Goa chief; BJP vows to win 26 seats with Margao
GOANEWS DESK, PANAJI | 18 January 2016 20:27 IST
Vinay Tendulkar, elected for the second consecutive term to head the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in Goa, has claimed that the party would win 26 seats in the next Assembly election.
He was elected unopposed as there was no other nomination.
Ahmadnagar MP Dilip Gandhi, who monitored election as the central election observer, declared Tendulkar as the president.
All the district committee and mandal committee members had gathered for the election, followed by a meeting addressed by state leaders.
While addressing the gathering, Tendulkar said the BJP would contest around 32 out of 40 seats, perhaps leaving other seats to their coalition partners like the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party.
“I am confident we would win 26 seats”, he said.
Defence minister Manohar Parrikar, while addressing, made a ‘valuable’ addition that these would include a prestigious seat of Margao.
BJP has been unable to win Margao seat since the time Digambar Kamat has switched over to the Congress.
The BJP had made a debut in the Goa Assembly in 1994 by winning four seats – Panaji by Parrikar, Margao by Kamat, Marcaim by Shripad Naik and Valpoi by Narhari Haldankar.
Parrikar also made a public appeal to the Margao-based party leaders, including Sharmad Raiturkar, to resolve their differences and work as a united force to defeat the Congress.
The ruling party had received a severe setback in the municipal election held recently due to infighting within the BJP leaders in Margao.
As a result, the BJP has still not elected its mandal committee in Margao, where the BJP is planning to defeat Kamat, the former chief minister.
The BJP has not announced mandal committees in almost 10 constituencies, including five in Salcete taluka alone.
Tendulkar has also been authorised to choose his state-level team of 30 cadres, including 7 office bearers.
