Manish Sisodia says BJP will replace Goa CM before polls, saffron party dubs claim as ‘baseless’

Sisodia’s statement comes a day after Sawant, state BJP chief Sadanand Tanavde and General Secretary (Organisation) Satish Dhond met Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP national president J P Nadda in New Delhi after they were called to the national capital.

BJP’s Goa election in-charge Devendra Fadnavis said: “That’s absolutely false and baseless. It’s like saying AAP will be replacing Arvind Kejriwal in Delhi.”

Sisodia said: “We have learnt from very reliable sources that the BJP is going to change its CM in Goa. Just two months before the Assembly election, it is going to replace Pramod Sawant and appoint a new chief minister. They have done this in Uttarakhand, in Karnataka.”

Sisodia claimed that the BJP had drawn up a ‘10-point failure list’ which included issues such as “mismanagement” of Covid-19 and Cyclone Tauktae, “deteriorating” law-and-order, and “scams”.

Goa BJP chief Tanavade said: “Who are AAP leaders in Delhi to decide our party’s decision? Just months before the election, can there be a leadership issue? This is common sense. Will any political party do such a thing? These are all rumours. There was no such discussion in the meeting in Delhi. It was about the election strategy of the party.
Today the PM has appreciated him (Sawant).”

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Saturday virtually addressed the people of Goa and spoke with beneficiaries
of the flagship state programmes, including the Swayampurna Goa (self-reliant Goa) scheme.
Sawant had started the programme, modeled on the central Atmanirbhar Bharat programme, in October last year.

The Prime Minister interacted with seven people, including a sarpanch and a chairman of the municipal corporation. He lauded Goa’s “new model of development” and praised the Sawant government for playing a leading role in implementing the central schemes.

Modi also lauded Sawant’s efforts for taking Goa to “new heights”.

After the virtual programme, Sawant said: “The Prime Minister has appreciated the efforts of team Goa, of the officials. If we continue to work like this, Goa will become a model for the Swayampurna Goa and Atmanirbhar Bharat programme.”

On his meeting in Delhi with Shah, Nadda and BJP’s Goa election in-charge Devendra Fadnavis, the Chief Minister said: “The meeting was about preparing for the forthcoming Assembly election. We had a discussion regarding that.”

Meanwhile, Sawant’s office announced on Saturday: “CM is travelling out of state for a personal program and will not be available in the state for Public Meetings till Monday October 25, 2021”.

Sources said he is traveling to Gujarat and is set to return