BJP will not gain sympathy from Parrikar's illness: Regional party

Panaji, Nov 15 (IANS) The BJP will not be able to gain any sympathy from Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar's illness in the yet to be announced by-elections necessitated by the resignation of two Congress legislators who joined the BJP last month.

Addressing a press conference in Panaji, Atmaram Gaonkar, president of the Goa Suraksha Manch, a political outfit largely comprising state RSS cadre, said the decision of the former state RSS chief Subhash Velingkar to contest elections earlier this month, would badly impact the electoral performance of the state BJP.

"There is no question of the BJP getting sympathy for the upcoming bypolls. If Parrikar had stepped down at the right time, it would have happened," Gaonkar told reporters, while announcing the party's decision to contest the by-elections in the assembly constituencies of Mandrem and Shirodkar. 

"The Goans are suffering as there is no administration, there is no decision-making. Whatever credit Parrikar earned is gone. There will be no sympathy wave," Gaonkar said.