BJP should not take me for granted: Laxmikant Parsekar
Panaji, Oct 30: As the ruling BJP is eyeing to field former Congress MLA Dayanand Sopte for the upcoming Mandrem Assembly bypoll in Goa, former state Chief Minister and BJP leader Laxmikant Parsekar Tuesday indicated that he might rebel against his party.
Sopte and another Congress MLA recently resigned as members of the Goa Legislative Assembly and joined the BJP, dealing a blow to the opposition party in the state.
Now, as the Congress started consolidating anti-BJP forces ahead of the upcoming bypoll in Mandrem Assembly, Parsekar said the BJP should stop taking him for granted.
His statement comes two days after Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) chief Girish Chodankar met him at Mandrem, which the former had represented in the state assembly till 2017.
Parsekar had lost to Sopte from Mandrem constituency in north Goa in the February 2017 Assembly polls.
Earlier, Parsekar had criticised BJP's Goa unit chief Vinay Tendulkar for not taking him into confidence while inducting Sopte.
"I will not reveal all my cards now. There is a feeling in BJP that I will never rebel against the party or I will never leave it (party). Sometimes, your virtues act as negatives and that has happened in my case. But this time, the party should not take me for granted," Parsekar said.
Although he confirmed that Chodankar had met him, Parsekar refused to elaborate about the meeting.
"These days there are many people who come and meet me. Chodankar had also come. There were some discussions," he said.
Parsekar said the Mandrem block of the BJP still considers him (Parsekar) as the candidate from the constituency.
"Let the elections be announced. Let the candidates be announced...then I will reveal my stand," he said.
When contacted, Chodankar said the Congress has been meeting all the "anti-BJP forces".
"We are rallying against Sopte, who is the probable BJP candidate in the constituency. We will defeat him in the constituency and our exercise in that direction has begun," he said.
Chodankar also refused to divulge the details of the meeting with Parsekar, but said "everyone will come together to defeat the BJP candidate".
Parsekar, who was the chief minister of Goa between 2014 and 2017, is one of the oldest members of the BJP. He had joined the party in 1994.
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Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
