The Hindu : Goa CM promises low-key campaign

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Apr 03, 2004

National

National - Elections 2004

Goa CM promises low-key campaign

Anil Sastry

PANAJI

Goa will see a different kind of election this time, if Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar is to be believed. Mr. Parrikar promises no fanfare and no large public meetings. Yet, he is confident that he can pull off a win quietly. Further, he says, the party has decided to focus on "positive" accomplishments, instead of highlighting the "weaknesses" of the Opposition candidates.

Having done its homework, the BJP in Goa is confident of retaining both the Lok Sabha seats (Panaji and Mormugao) with higher margins, Mr. Parrikar told reporters here. During the 1999 Lok Sabha elections, Shripad Y. Naik of the BJP polled 1,04,882 votes against Ramakant Khalap of Congress (68,215) in Panaji; Ramakant Angle of the BJP polled 1,06,024 votes against Joaquim Alemao of the Congress (91,605) in Mormugao. This time, they would get at least 1.5 lakh votes each, he claimed.

He said he would not be making such claims had he not visited the villages and interacted with people, the Chief Minister said adding that the Party has penetrated into every nook and corner of the State. "With one lakh members, is it difficult for the Party to get at least three lakh votes?" he asked.

The party has organised a 17,000-strong force of booth-level volunteers — 9,000 in Panaji (North Goa) and 8,000 in Mormugao (South Goa) — Mr. Parrikar said. If each volunteer was able to bring at least four votes, the party would return the candidates with a good margin, he said. Apart from the volunteers, the BJP has enrolled more than 1.04 lakh members, he added.

Campaigning would be confined to street-corner meetings and small public rallies which would be addressed by celebrities like Hema Malini, Sushma Swaraj, Pramod Mahajan and Varun Gandhi.

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