PANJIM: Justifying the entry of two Congressmen in the BJP, Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar said it was the need of the hour as their father figure and their partners had deserted them.
“We had a father (Velingkar) who has left us, he is only speaking about defeating us. Our colleagues (Dhavalikar brothers) too are talking about leaving us, so we will definitely look for options to compensate the losses, it is a simple thing,” Parsekar said on Tuesday, after a closed door meeting with party leaders and workers.
Reacting to the conflict between senior BJP leaders in Cumbharjua constituency, the Chief Minister said, “Parsekar had not become president of the party in Goa in 1999 because my father was the president. Parsekar has reached to the level of Chief Minister of Goa from an ordinary worker with his dedicated work for the party.”
Reacting to the series of questions from the media, Parsekar said, “We need to have patience. I am a Chief Minister but everything is not happening as per my wish neither is it the case with Parrikar, Shripad or Tendulkar. We have to respect decisions of our party leadership. I told my party workers the same thing while addressing the issue raised at the meeting of Cumbharjua.”
Speaking further he cited the humiliation he faced in 1999 just for the party’s growth in Goa. “In 1999 we had 10 MLAs and I was the party president, 11 MLAs of Congress were ready to form the government with us, we had discussions for almost three months in which my opponent in my constituency Ramakant Khalap was one of the MLAs of Congress and was supposed to be a Minister in the government,” Parsekar said.
Parsekar said that in the interest of the party’s development in his capacity as State President he had accepted his opponent as a minister in the BJP government.
“I never thought at that time that I will even become an MLA of Mandrem but after that people voted for me and I became MLA, minister and now Chief Minister,” Parsekar said.
BJP will open its election office with 24 departments concerned with Assembly elections to help all voters. It has also formed election committees at the constituency level for better coordination.
