Won’t have taken Cong MLAs if I had to decide: Tanavade

Panaji: A day after BJP inducted eight Congress MLAs into its fold, party state president Sadanand Shet Tanavade on Thursday said that if the proposal to induct eight Congress MLAs into BJP had come to him, then at a personal level, he would have declined it. However, it was the party’s central leadership that directed the local unit to induct the eight, he said.
“BJP is a national party. The local unit cannot take such a big decision. This decision has been taken at the central level. Eight Congress MLAs had met in Delhi. Once we get directions from the central leadership it does not matter whether we agree to it or not. If the proposal had come to me, at a personal level, I would have said no. The proposal was not before me. The central leadership told us to take them into the party and we have taken them,” Tanavade said.
Elaborating on his statement, Tanavade said that his statement is in his personal capacity, but as he is the BJP state president he is bound by the decision of central leadership.
He said that in July, Congress MLAs had tried to join BJP. “We were told that they will join BJP and even Union minister Bhupender Yadav had arrived in the state, but after waiting for a whole day, the Congress MLAs failed to get the numbers and the plan was unsuccessful,” Tanavade said.
The BJP state president said that after the Congress MLAs were able to get the requisite numbers they approached our central leadership and again showed willingness to join BJP. “Our central leadership called us and told us to induct them into the party and accordingly on Wednesday they were inducted,” Tanavade said.
TOI had reported on Thursday that the local BJP unit was not very keen on inducting additional Congress MLAs, but it was the Congress MLAs who pursued the matter with BJP’s central leadership.
Besides former chief minister Digambar Kamat (Margao), Leader of the Opposition Michael Lobo (Calangute), Aleixo Sequeira (Nuvem), Rudolf Fernandes (Santa Cruz), Michael’s wife Delilah (Siolim), Sankalp Amonkar (Mormugao), Kedar Naik (Saligao) and Rajesh Faldessai (Cumbarjua) joined BJP on Wednesday.