What went wrong with the BJP?

he State BJP had bragged of winning absolute majority with no room for alliance particularly with the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP). However, it’s dream shattered after the poll results on Saturday.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, who camped in Goa almost regularly after the poll dates were declared and former chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar were amongst a selected party leaders who were the star campaigners in the State. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, national BJP President Amit Shah and several union leaders made every attempt to woo the voters of Goa, but in vain.

The party had simple majority in the state in 2012 with 21 MLAs and pre-poll ally MGP had three seats.

Various factors could have led to the debacle of the BJP after an impressive win in the last term. The contentious Medium of Instruction (MOI), failure to relocate off shore casinos to an alternate site are amongst various factors that possibly impacted the votes. Parrikar, however, does not feel so. In a brief chat with HERALD, he denied that these issues affected the BJP votes. “I think it is personal incumbency. People went on individual qualities while voting than focussing on the party,” he said. 

The party had faced the revolt from Goa RSS chief Subhash Velingkar, who decided to part ways with organisation’s political arm and form RSS rebel. However, on March 7, Velingkar dissolved the alliance and joined hands with RSS again. The Bharatiya Bhasha Suraksha Manch that has been demanding withdrawal of grants to English medium primary schools had also started anti-BJP campaigns. 

Just two days before the results, Parrikar had said that 90 per cent silent voters had voted in favour of the BJP.

While MGP has won three seats, BJP’s number has gone down from 21 to 13. Outgoing Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar lost by over 4000 votes in a state where a thousand-odd victory margin is considered big. Velingkar had claimed silent support of RSS cadre which Parrikar had debunked. But it’s evident it did matter in the end.

The BJP is now introspecting whether Parrikar’s absence on the State politics affected it.