Panaji: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday said there will be no mid-term assembly polls in the state and that the Goa assembly election will take place in February/ March 2022 as scheduled.
“The BJP is presently preparing for the municipal elections and will post its flag on all 12 municipal bodies, which will go to polls shortly,” said state BJP president Sadanand Tanawade. He also stated that it is up to the government to decide whether the municipal elections are to be held on party lines or not.
Tanawade, stating that till the time “third parties” involved in the Shel-Melauli issue are not “thrown out” of the village, the particular issue will continue to exist, categorically said that Chief Minister Pramod Sawant will no more visit the village to carry out related discussion with the villagers.
The state BJP president, addressing a press conference at the party’s city headquarters, said that the opposition political parties and the NGOs must stop fuelling the issue and then only the confusion prevailing in the village would end. “Of late, red flags were also visible at the site of the agitation signalling the involvement of Communist parties in this issue,” he added.
Speaking further, the state BJP chief said the Chief Minister visited the village on two occasions; however, the villagers were in no mood to listen to him. “I, as the state BJP president, would neither advise the Chief Minister to visit the village again, nor would do it myself, as we don’t want to politicise the issue,” he noted, pointing out that the villagers should now come and meet the Chief Minister, if they want to discuss their problems linked to the proposed campus of the Indian Institute of Technology-Goa, in this village.
Furthermore, Tanawade said the state BJP unit will fully support whatever decision the government takes on the Shel-Melauli issue, as the government decisions are reached after thoroughly studying all related aspects.
The state BJP president also supported the Chief Minister’s decision to file First Information Reports against some villagers, including few local youth under the section relating to “Attempt to Murder”, as these people had made all preparations to set fire to police vehicles. “Police are custodians of law and order in the state and the BJP government will not tolerate any mischief against them, especially if it threatens their life,” he said.
Replying to a question as regards public opposition to almost every decision of the government, Tanawade said that sugarcane cultivators or shopkeepers from markets around the state, who had launched protests in support of compensation for their standing crop and against the Goa Municipalities (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020, respectively, agreed to discuss their issues with the government, and after receiving assurances from authorities to their satisfaction, withdrew their protests.
