TEAM HERALD
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PANJIM: As expected, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) central leadership has turned down the State unit proposal to allow North Goa MP Shripad Naik to contest in State assembly polls.
The proposal sent by BJP State Unit to the Centre requesting that Naik be relieved from the responsibilities of national politics, and that he be given a ticket to contest on newly carved out Porvorim constituency has been rejected.
“They have declined to accept the proposal of the State Unit,” Naik told Herald on Saturday.
Asked what would be his future course of action, Naik said, “I continue to be the loyal soldier of the party and will go by the party diktat.”
When pointed out that his supporters had asked him to defy party if denied ticket, he said, “I will think about the future course later but I am with the party and obey their orders.”
“As announced earlier, I would continue to serve as an MP,” Naik stated.
The party workers led by Naik had started campaigning in Porvorim constituency after the proposal was sent to
The proposal ran into controversy after another group within the party, became active to scuttle Naik’s plan to enter State politics.
There’s was huge resentment among Naik’s supporters when plans of the rival group became clear. There’ were also reports that the party had started considering other candidates for Porvirom, including a businessman Rohan Khaunte.
Two weeks back, a meeting was convened at Ribandar wherein supporters of Naik demanded that he should leave the party if he was denied a ticket.
Naik’s supporters also petitioned the
This decision of the party holds significance in view of the fact that Naik belongs to Bhandari samaj. There’s likely to be resentment among Bahujan samaj against this decision of the party which is a huge vote bank.
But will it affect party‘s prospects of winning more seats?
