Team Herald
PANJIM: A day after Goa Forward Party (GFP) held a meeting at the Samadhi of State’s former Chief Minister late Manohar Parrikar at Miramar, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday condemned the “shameful” act of its coalition partners, accusing them of violating the sanctity of the place.
Addressing media persons, BJP general secretary Damodar Naik accused the coalition partners of misusing the charisma of Parrikar for their political gains and also questioned their standing to carry forward his legacy.
“We strongly condemn the shameful act of them (GFP) to misuse Bhai’s samadhi for their political gains. Who gave them the right to violate the sanctity of the place by eating chicken, mutton there? It is a holy place not just for BJP karyakartas but each and every Goan and Indian, for whom he was the tallest leader,” Naik said.
GFP legislators – Vijai Sardesai, Jayesh Salgaonkar and Vinod Palyekar along with Independent MLA Rohan Khaunte had held a press conference at Parrikar’s samadhi, after being dropped from the cabinet by Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant. The allies had castigated BJP for going back on the word given by Parrikar at time of government formation in March 2017.
Accusing the BJP of murdering the political legacy of Parrikar, allies had promised to carry forward his legacy.
During the entire press conference, Naik did not name Goa Forward Party but accused them of stopping down the lowest level of violating the sanctity of the place. Naik said the leaders during the meeting used words like Parrikar died twice, which indicates their lowest mentality.
“We will not allow anyone to misuse the name of Parrikar for their political gain. BJP is strong enough to take ahead the legacy of Parrikar. Others need not worry about it,” he said.
Naik questioned why the coalition partners were bargaining for better posts and portfolios after Parrikar’s death, if they had continued their support to the government as a part of assurance given to him.
“If they were going forward to keep the word, then why did they change the agreement to support Sawant? Why was the post of DyCM created? Why was Forest portfolio granted?” he said referring to Sardesai.
He said the coalition partners did not help the BJP during the Lok Sabha election campaign. However, he refused to comment on whether this was one of the reason to drop the coalition partners from cabinet.
Responding to a question whether having coalition with GFP was a wrong decision, Naik said “Parrikar took the right decision at right time to help the party.”
“Now whatever steps are taken (to drop them) are in accordance to the constitution,” he added.
