Team Herald
PANJIM: The bickering within the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) following the induction of former Congress MLAs – Subhash Shirodkar and Dayanand Sopte may benefit the Goa Suraksha Manch (GSM) in the upcoming Mandrem and Shiroda by-elections.
Mentored by former RSS Goa chief Subhash Velingkar, GSM has already announced its plan to contest Mandrem and Shiroda by-elections, posing strong opposition to the candidates to be fielded by BJP, which is currently facing the heat within.
While BJP is yet to announce Shirodkar and Sopte as their candidates in Shiroda and Mandrem constituencies respectively, their entry in the saffron party has already ruffled feathers.
Former chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar was the first one to rebel in the party by making public statements and was supported by his former cabinet colleague Rajendra Arlekar.
Political observers predict that the infighting within BJP is likely to benefit GSM, as MGP will not be contesting in both the constituencies being an alliance partner.
When contacted, Velingkar said that the party has kept its door open to anyone “who wants to join the political outfit after being in sync with the ideology.”
“We don’t want any leader or any person to join us, if they do not believe in our ideology,” he said adding that the party will get in touch with all those, who have been prominently working for the cause of people in these two constituencies.
Without naming Parsekar, Velingkar said GSM however will not accept those who had ditched the cause of Medium of Instruction (MoI) in the past.
“In the past, they ditched the genuine cause of MoI. We will not allow them to join us, just because now they feel that injustice was done on them,” he said.
He said that GSM is a cadre-based organisation and one amongst the cadre will rise to become leader in each constituency.
Velingkar himself is likely to be GSM face in coming days.
