BJP to tap minority vote to boost base

PANJIM, AUG 22
With an eye on the forthcoming Assembly elections, Bharatiya Janata Party has tentatively chalked out its strategies, one of which includes reaching out to minority groups in Goa.
Addressing the media for the first time after taking charge of Goa desk Arti Mehra said the party will hold interactions with Christian religious leaders including Archbishop of Goa in an endeavor to boost minority vote.
“I am holding an interaction at Fr Agnel Ashram where I will make a presentation for its students. We want to shed the misconception of being tagged as a communal political party…for this we are holding interactions with Christian religious leaders and subsequently other minority religious groups to correct the party’s image. We need such sensitization programs to ensure BJP more seats”, she said.
Mehra, also BJP National Secretary admitted the party sensed the need to reach out to the Christian community to help increase minority votes by at least five per cent.
“Christians comprise of nearly 30 per cent of the Goan
population. By our efforts and personal interactions, we would try to increase our vote share by at least five to seven per cent…We have plans to shortly reconstitute the State Minority Morcha”, Mehra a former Delhi mayor for two years, between 2007 and 2009 said.
Earlier, claiming consistent popularity of the Leader of Opposition Manohar Parrikar among the people of Goa, Mehra accused Congress of ‘corruption’. Citing the recent infamous scenario in Goa, she stated that Congress governance is blend with corruption.
“Wherever Congress goes, corruption follows whether it is the proposed PPP hospital project by roping in an Israeli company or the drug nexus involving Israelis and other drug mafias…what impact will it have on younger generation”, she questioned.
The revelation on the alleged involvement of Roy, son of Home Minister Ravi Naik in the drug cartel created flutters at the Central ministry, Mehra admits. “The whole country has witnessed that Home Minister’s son is dragged into the alleged nexus…involvement of another minister’s son in a sexual assault case…” she said adding, the party will form a pressure group in Delhi to raise these issues at the Central level.