PANJIM: Even as the ruling BJP is making all efforts to fill the vacuum owing to the demise of their stalwart leader former Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, Union Minister Shripad Naik has admitted that the former’s absence will be felt during the ongoing poll campaign.
“He (Parrikar) has done a lot of things for the State and its people, and a lot of good things are taught by him to our ‘karyakartas’. It is unfortunate that he is no more with us but we all are united and trying to fill-in the vacuum,” he told Herald on the sidelines of addressing a press briefing to spell out his achievements in the last five years as North Goa MP.
The sitting MP, who has won four times from North Goa, said Parrikar was always the key person in deciding the BJP’s poll strategy. His manifesto for the district, which would be after the BJP election manifesto 2019 releases in Delhi, will have inputs given by Parrikar.
Responding to a query, Naik, ruled out the possibility of an anti-incumbency factor working against BJP. The Ayush minister further claimed that the opposition is attempting to make an issue out of it whereas the people of Goa ‘are not bothered’.
He also allayed apprehensions that former Speaker Rajendra Arlekar and former CM Laxmikant Parsekar’s differences on certain issues with the party will be a setback during the elections, stating that these leaders are staunch supporters of the BJP. However, with party ticket denied to Mapusa councilor Sudhir Kandolkar, Naik said, it could affect “few votes for the BJP” in that constituency during the by-elections. Both Lok Sabha and by-elections in Mandrem, Mapusa and Shiroda would be held on April 23 and counting on May 23.
The four-time MP claimed that he undertook around 1,000 works in the last five years in North Goa as part of the MP Local Area Development Scheme. “Once I win, I will take up 300 more works,” he said as he released a booklet detailing every work undertaken under the scheme.
