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‘Pramod Sawant to be BJP’s face in Goa for 2022’: JP Nadda
BJP national president JP Nadda on Sunday concluded a two-day visit to Goa, throwing his weight behind chief minister Pramod Sawant, backing him to lead the party into the 2022 assembly elections
BJP national president JP Nadda on Sunday concluded a two-day visit to Goa, throwing his weight behind chief minister Pramod Sawant, backing him to lead the party into the 2022 assembly elections.
When asked about who will lead the state into the 2022 assembly polls, Nadda said that there was “no scope to think about anyone else.”
“Pramod Sawant has done a good job and all-round development has happened under his leadership. We are moving ahead with his leadership. We have an arrangement where the parliamentary board (officially) declares this. I cannot do this. But there is no scope to think about anyone else,” Nadda said.
When asked whether the Union Minister of State Shripad Naik, whose name has also been doing the rounds, was in contention, Nadda sidestepped the question and chose to praise the work Naik was doing in Delhi.
“He is doing a very good job in Delhi and he is taking care of things... Everybody has interests, but the interest has to be taken care of by the party. He has been assigned a job in Delhi, which he is doing very well,” he said.
Naik, who was among the earliest leaders of the BJP and among the four elected as MLAs on a BJP ticket the first time BJP opened its account in the state in 1994, had earlier expressed his willingness to take the reins of the party “if the party were to give him the task” but said he wasn’t hankering for it.
Instead, Nadda said, the party has made giant strides from 2017.
“I am optimistic as far as the party in Goa is concerned... I can say with joy that the Goa BJP from 2017 has grown ahead in 2021. The party has taken a big leap in the last four and a half years. Structurally, the BJP has become a formidable force. Party office bearers and MLAs are full of confidence and ready to serve people,” Nadda who was addressing a press conference to culminate his two-day visit, said.
“A big number joined us from the Congress. They have felt good after joining the BJP and they have assimilated themselves totally and fully. They have praised the functioning of the party. That makes me more optimistic. It has made me more confident,” he said.
The BJP, through engineering defections, ‘imported’ thirteen MLAs from the Congress and two from the MGP to bring the party’s tally to 27 in the 40 member house from a mere 13 it was elected with.
Addressing possibles fissures within the BJP between the old guard and those recently inducted, Nadda said the party was eager to settle everyone’s desires.
“In political parties, leaders may have some desires. Settling those desires is the work of the party, which is a natural process and will continue as a process. We will do that,” he said.
Nadda also took potshots at the Congress calling it a ‘rudderless boat’ that lacked direction.
“From Delhi to Goa, Congress is a rudderless boat and the sailor does not know which side to sail. So this is the situation with the Congress. It does not know the winds also, where the winds are blowing,” he said.
“I am told that the opposition led by Congress has got no issue related to people that they want to raise. Therefore, they raise such issues (snooping). Second, as far as Parliament is concerned, we are ready for all kinds of discussions and we are going for discussions. But Congress, along with the opposition, is so dejected, they are so issueless that they do not know what to do,” he added.
