BJP MLA approached to contest North Goa LS seat
KANZIL RODRIGUES
bureau@herald-goa.com
OLD GOA: St Andre MLA and BJP heavyweight Vishnu Surya Wagh who has recently been roaring in favour of bullfights could well be locking horns in a different arena.
Highly reliable sources have disclosed to Herald that Wagh has been “approached” by the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) to be its candidate to contest the North Goa Lok Sabha seat against fellow party man and sitting MP Shripad Naik in the forthcoming parliamentary elections.
While NCP leaders had claimed that the party would not “hire” a politician from any other political party for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections, the state and central NCP leaders are reportedly keen to allot its party ticket to Wagh to contest from North Goa.
Many of the NCP leaders are shortlisting Wagh, given the fact that he has been taking on his own government on various issues.
When contacted, a senior NCP leader, speaking on condition of anonymity, admitted that there had been talks between the St Andre MLA and senior NCP leaders in this regard.
“But nothing has been finalized yet,” added the NCP leader.
Asked to comment on growing murmurs within political circles that he was interested in contesting the Lok Sabha elections from North Goa, Wagh replied: “If I have to tell you in one statement, then I would say ‘Delhi bahut door hai’ and it all depends on circumstances.”
“Presently, I have been elected as an MLA of St Andre and my job is to look after my constituency and raise problems. I feel that I have been very vocal in raising issues in all assembly sessions so far. Right now, my sight is on my constituency, but you can’t say about the future as there is another one year for the Lok Sabha elections,” said Wagh.
However, the St Andre BJP MLA did not deny his aspiration to proceed to Delhi.
“I always had aspirations to be a Lok Sabha member and frankly speaking, I always wanted to be a Member of Parliament right from my younger days.”
“So rather than being a member of the legislative assembly, I would always like to be a MP, as I feel that it is the place where I can fit. Fortunately, I have a good grip over Hindi language and if one has to survive in Delhi, he/she has to have a good knowledge of Hindi. I can speak fluently in Hindi and English too and this matters a lot,” stated Wagh.
“If circumstances demand, then I will take a decision. But at present I’m part of the BJP and every one tries to contact anyone, but it doesn’t mean that there was anything as right now I’m with the BJP,” he said.
When contacted, North Goa MP Shripad Naik said it did not matter who wanted to contest the Lok Sabha elections.
“But I am 101 per cent confident that my party will give me the North Goa Lok Sabha ticket, especially since I have won the North Goa Lok Sabha seat on BJP ticket for the last three terms,” he said.
“Such reports are all rumours created by those who are unable to defeat me. BJP has already decided to give the North Goa Lok Sabha ticket to me as they have seen my work and this is just a ploy of the opposition parties,” replied Naik.
