Team Herald
PANJIM: The tussle for the Chief Minister’s post is heating up within the Bharatiya Janata Party with two to three aspirants vying for the post.
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Two days after the Assembly results were declared and the BJP won 20 seats in the 40-member Assembly, the party is yet to elect its legislature party leader. Though Chief Minister Pramod Sawant was considered to be the natural choice for leading the party to victory, there were murmurs about his continuation with Ministers Vishwajit Rane, Mauvin Godinho and former Minister Rohan Khaunte throwing their hats in the ring.
BJP national leaders – general secretary B L Santosh and Union Minister Piyush Goyal – deputed by the party as observers are arriving in Goa on Sunday. They will meet all the BJP MLAs-elect and later in their presence the legislature party leader will be elected. Soon after his election, the newly-elected leader will meet Governor P S Sreedharan Pillai and stake claim to form the government,
Some of the BJP MLAs-elect on Saturday met and favoured Sawant’s continuance as the Chief Minister. But sources close to Rane said that the BJP leaders should not undermine the role played by Rane to strengthen the party in Sattari taluka. They also referred to Rane’s huge victory margin compared to Sawant’s, who won by a margin of just over 700 votes.
There are reports that seven-time MLA Godinho and former Minister Khaunte are also being considered for the Chief Minister’s post.
When asked about the delay in deciding the leader and staking claim to form the next government, the Chief Minister said that the party will complete the procedure in all four States where BJP retained power in the elections.
“I don’t know when the Central observers will come to elect legislature party leader,” he said.
On Saturday, the BJP postponed its legislature party meeting due to the delay in the party’s Central Parliamentary Board meeting as Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on a visit to Gujarat.
