PONDA: There were strong rumours circulating amongst the people of Ponda and on social media platforms about the imminent possibility of the Ponda MLA Ravi Naik and his two sons, Ritesh and Roy, joining BJP.
However, when the Congress MLA Naik was contacted, he denied the rumours. Incidentally, he has been receiving calls from his supporters and other locals as well all day.
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“There are still two years left for my tenure as a Congress MLA to end,” he said, while adding that his political rivals in the constituency may have played a role in spreading these false rumours.
“I am part of the Congress party and am still a Congressman,” Ravi emphasized.
However, he wasn’t able to put to rest the speculation about his sons’ joining BJP.
“I don’t know anything”, when asked to comment about his sons’ decisions.
It is to be noted that Ritesh Naik is a Ponda Municipal Councillor and both Ritesh and Roy have the experience of contesting on a Congress ticket from Marcaim and Valpoi respectively. However, Ritesh lost to MGP MLA and former Deputy Chief Minister Sudin Dhavalikar in the Assembly election; whereas Roy lost to Health Minister and BJP MLA Visjwajit Rane in the by-poll election, which was held after Rane quit Congress and joined BJP.
When asked if we will support their decisions, he repeated that he doesn’t know anything about their plans and asked reporters to contact his sons directly and added that they would take whatever decision they wish.
“They are matured and are even fathers (parents). They have their own views and will take their own decision to support which party they want,” Ravi replied.
Ravi also made an indirect reference to former CM and Congress Poriem MLA Pratapsingh Rane, whose son Vishwajit is a BJP MLA.
It may also be recalled that Ravi had joined BJP in the past and was about to contest elections on a BJP ticket but had changed his decision at the last minute. This decision turned out in his favour as he contested on the Congress ticket and defeated the BJP candidate Shripad Naik, and took revenge against Shripad for defeating him earlier from Marcaim as the MGP-BJP alliance candidate.
