Parrikar wants Goa Catholics to break anti-BJP taboo

Paji, Dec 18: Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Sunday exhorted voters in the Catholic-domited region of Salcete in south Goa not to fear the BJP. “No one needs to be scared of the BJP. One can work with them... BJP is a Goan party, it protects the interests of the state and we will get your support in the coming days,” Parrikar said at an event in velim assembly constituency. Goa will see elections early next year.

The Catholic domited Salcete sub-district has been an electoral barrier of sorts for the Bharatiya Jata Party.

But in the 2012 assembly elections, the BJP cobbled together a new strategy by tying up with independent candidates with Catholic religious orientation to defeat the Congress in its own bastion.

Parrikar now says that the Catholic leaders, instead of contesting as independents, should join the BJP so that the anti-BJP taboo is broken. (IANS)