Panaji: With less than 10 days to go for the Goa Assembly election, the race for the chief minister’s post appears to be intensifying in the ruling BJP.
After statements of the party’s central leadership were interpreted by many as favouring Union defence minister Manohar Parrikar for the top post in the state, his ministerial colleague and AYUSH minister Sripad Naik on Thursday said that the party has “not declared its CM candidate.”
When asked whether he too is in the race for the top post, Mr Naik said that though he is not in the race but if asked by the party leadership, he will work hard for it. Mr Parrikar himself has also not ruled out the possibility of him going back to the state.
Mr Naik belongs to the numerically strong Bhandari community in the state. The elections for the 40 seats in this coastal state is scheduled on February 4. He claimed that there is “confusion” in the cadre as party MLAs will decide the CM issue after the polls.
