Panaji, Sep 25 (Inditop.com) The Goa unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Friday said its senior leader Manohar Parrikar was a contender for the post of the party’s national president and that his controversial remark likening veteran leader L.K. Advani to ageing pickle would not hamper his prospects.
While the party’s Goa spokesperson Govind Parvatkar said Parrikar’s comments were blown out of proportion by the media, the former state chief minister in his Monday interview to a local television channel did not mince words to say that he indeed had the potential to lead the BJP.
Parvatkar told Inditop at the party headquarters: “The controversy would not affect Parrikar’s prospects of being selected as the party president. Our leadership will understand that this is a media created controversy. The leaders know him personally.”
He added that the media had picked only certain remarks made by Parrikar and had ignored the praise the former chief minister heaped on BJP stalwarts Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L.K. Advani.
“Parrikar’s comments on pickle were spontaneous in nature and did not refer to Advaniji. It was just an example,” he said.
Parrikar had Monday said: “Pickle tastes good when it is left to mature for a year. But if you keep it for more than two years, it turns rancid… Advani-ji’s period is more or less over. Another couple of years, maybe. But he should be around as a guide or a mentor for the party members.”
In his half-hour interview which was telecast on Monday, a CD of which is in the possession of Inditop, Parrikar also did not mince words to say the presidentship of the BJP was an “attractive option” and that the party may be considering his name.
He added, speaking in Konkani: “I love working for the party. I am basically a born administrator.”
“Definitely there is a contribution from my side (towards the party), but there are many other people who have character, clean record, good in administration and who are in that range (45 years to 55 years),” Parrikar, 54, said.
“When the bridge comes, I will decide to cross it with a strategy, whatever it is… Serious talk may happen only after Maharastra elections…. My name coming up is an indirect receipt for good work,” he said. Parrikar is at present leader of opposition in the state assembly.
Elaborating, he said there was an immediate need for the party to put forward a “youthful face” in order to erase the BJP’s communal projection.
“Rightly or wrongly, the BJP was projected wrongly and to correct that projection, you need a fresh face. The party leaders must be weighing such options,” Parrikar said, adding that there were other young and capable persons within the party who qualified for the president’s post.
He went on: “A lot of people perceive… although I am not convinced… but a lot of people see the BJP as a party which is communal, but I have never seen that angle. Maybe some people are an aberration, but other parties have more serious issues. Unfortunately, only these aspects have been projected.”
Govind Parvatkar said Parrikar was, in fact, saying that people were misunderstanding the BJP on the issue of communalism. “People think the BJP is communal, but other parties are more communal,” he said, pointing out to the Congress.
