The Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday stated that the Goa Forward Party legislators and Independent MLA Rohan Khaunte were dropped from the cabinet as political equations in the state have no longer been the same as they were when the Manohar Parrikar government came to power in the state in 2017.
Addressing a press conference at the city BJP headquarters on Sunday, state BJP general secretary Damodar Naik said that whatever Parrikar decided after the results of the 2017 assembly polls was convenient at that time. “Today the (political) equations have changed, and the decision to drop these four ministers from the cabinet is a right decision,” he justified. He slammed the four dropped ministers for disrespecting the sanctity of the place, where Parrikar was cremated, by holding a meeting on the particular location on Saturday
Naik maintained that his party is fully capable of taking forward the legacy of Parrikar. “The sentiments of the BJP leaders as well as workers are emotionally attached to the final resting place of Bhai (Parrikar),” he added. After being dropped from the state cabinet on Saturday, Vijai Sardesai, Vinod Paliencar and Jayesh Salgaonkar, the three GFP MLAs, along with Khaunte, had maintained that the BJP failed to honour the word of Parrikar.