Shah: BJP will win absolute majority in Goa poll, form govt

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 14

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday expressed confidence that the ruling BJP would win “absolute majority” in the Goa Assembly elections due in February next year and form the government in the state once again.

He said “double engine” BJP governments – in Goa and at the Centre – would help in the development of the state.

“There is still time for elections. But I am appealing to the people of Goa to make up their mind to elect the BJP in the state under the leadership of Narendra Modi at the Centre,” Shah said.

Goa is set to see a multi-cornered election with the ruling BJP, opposition Congress and regional forces, including the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC, Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Maharashtra’s ruling party Shiv Sena in fray for the 40-member House.

In the 2017 Goa Assembly polls, the Congress emerged the single largest party by winning 17 seats. However, the BJP, which won 13 seats, managed to form the government with Manohar Parrikar taking control of the matters in his home state.

Shah is expected to discuss state unit’s views on pre-poll alliance arrangements in Goa.

Shah, who has started his Assembly elections tours, will also be visiting Uttarakhand later this month to gauge the political situation at the ground level. Meanwhile, Shah said the government had been aiming to make forensic team’s spot visit “mandatory” in crimes that attract over six years of jail term.

Shah was addressing a gathering at the foundation stone-laying ceremony of the National Forensic Sciences University at Dharbandora village in Goa.

He said, “There is paucity of trained manpower in the field of forensic science, which affects the conviction rates.”