BJP pins hopes on Satish Dhond ahead of Lok Sabha polls

PANAJI: The BJP met with its office-bearers, core committee members and frontal organisations in the presence of newly appointed organisational secretary, Satish Dhond, at its headquarters in Panaji, on Saturday. Plans and programmes to strengthen the party’s base for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections were discussed.
Earlier in the day, Dhond, who formally met his former party colleagues after over three years, was given a warm welcome outside the BJP headquarters.Prominent among those who attended was former CM Laxmikant Parsekar, who had boycotted core committee meetings after ex-Congress MLA Dayanand Sopte was inducted into the party. Parsekar, who had also been critical of the BJP’s functioning under Vinay Tendulkar, welcomed Dhond’s appointment as organisational secretary.
“I attended an hour-long meeting today. I came here to listen. A lot of organisational changes are needed,” Parsekar told STOI.
The meet was also attended by Sopte and former Shiroda MLA Subhash Shirodkar. While Shirodkar said bypolls for the Mandrem and Shiroda seats were expected by the end of March, Sopte exuded confidence of Parsekar’s support in Mandrem.
As per instructions from the saffron party’s national leadership, reactivation of the Yuva Morcha and Mahila Morcha was discussed at the meeting. Sources said its members were asked to travel across the state, highlighting policies and programmes initiated by PM Narendra Modi over the past 4.5 years. BJP’s general secretary (organisation) for Goa and Maharashtra, Vijay Puranik, who arrived in Goa on Friday to review organisational work, said Dhond would start in right earnest.