Amit Shah aims at full majority for BJP in 2022 Goa polls; extols Centre's achievements

Union Home Minister Amit Shah exhorted the BJP cadre on Thursday to ensure that the party gets a majority on its own in the upcoming Goa Assembly election. Recalling that Jan Sangh workers had struggled for the independence of Goa, he opined that BJP has a special relationship with the state. Elaborating on the benefits of having a majority government, he contended that the Centre couldn't have taken major policy decisions such as abrogation of Article 370 if the saffron party was in a minority. In a veiled dig at the erstwhile Manmohan Singh-led UPA government, he lambasted the governance model of Congress. 

Former BJP president Amit Shah remarked, "There are many issues in the polls. I have no hesitation in comparing the 60 years of Congress government and 10 years of BJP governance. I have faith that we will have the upper hand if we make this comparison. While you make a double engine government, there are fewer compartments. Isn't this the case? This time, we don't want a government with fewer compartments. This time, we have to fight the polls to ensure that a BJP government with a full majority comes to power. Full majority Implies stability. Full majority implies the right to govern. Full majority implies the right to corruption-free governance."

"If Modi Ji hadn't got a full majority, would the formation of the Ramjanmabhoomi temple be possible? If Modi Ji hadn't got a full majority, could we have abrogated Article 370?  If Modi Ji hadn't got a full majority, could we have taken India on the path of such progress in 7 years? At one time in times, there was a Congress government in which all Ministers considered themselves as the PM and nobody considered the PM as the PM. There was policy paralysis," he added. He also congratulated the Pramod Sawant-led government on achieving 100% coverage of Goa's eligible population with the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccination. 

Weighing in on late BJP stalwart, ex-Defence Minister and CM Manohar Parrikar, Shah said, "When the party told Parrikar Ji that you have to become the country's Defence Minister, he did not wish to leave Goa. But he followed the party's direction and left an indelible impact in his tenure which lasted for one and a half years". He lauded Parrikar's achievements as the Defence Minister including implementation of the One Rank One Pension scheme and the 2016 surgical strike.

Goa polls

In the 2017 Goa Assembly polls, BJP suffered a big blow in the absence of its stalwart leader Manohar Parrikar as it could win only 13 seats in contrast to Congress whose candidates won in 17 constituencies. However, BJP staked claim to form the government with the support of 3 MGP MLAs, 3 GFP MLAs, two Independents and an NCP MLA under the leadership of Parrikar who resigned as the Defence Minister. After he passed away on March 17, 2019, the then Assembly Speaker Pramod Sawant replaced him.

Deputy CMs in the Parrikar Cabinet- Sudin Dhavalikar and GFP president Vijai Sardesai were sacked from the Cabinet in the next months. Meanwhile, BJP consolidated its position after 10 Congress MLAs including Chandrakant Kavlekar, Atanasio Monserrate, Jeniffer Monserratte, Francis Silveira, Philip Nery Rodrigues, Cleaofacio Dias, Wilfred Dsa, Nilkant Halarnkar and Isidor Fernandes joined the saffron party on July 10, 2019. Both AAP and TMC are also seeking to make inroads in the state in the wake of a weakened Congress state unit.