The Bharatiya Janata Party today opposed the demand for the installation of a statue of Jack Sequeira at the state Assembly complex as demanded by its coalition partner, the Goa Forward Party.
Goa Forward Party, during the celebration of Opinion Poll day on January 16, had demanded that the statue of Sequeira, who spearheaded the movement against Goa's merger with Maharashtra, be installed at the Assembly complex.
BJPs state core committee, which met in Panaji, decided not to support the installation of any other statue there apart from the one existing of Goa's first Chief Minister Dayanand Bhausaheb Bandodkar.
Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar also participated in the BJP meeting.
In a resolution, the BJP stated, "A large number of people have participated in the freedom movement, opinion poll, and the all round development of Goa. Due to this, the request for installing their statues in Vidhan Sabha complex is likely to come up in the near future and therefore the BJP does not support the demand of installing any other statue in the Vidhan Sabha complex."
The resolution further stated that the party would not do anything that would hurt the sentiments of the people as well as their respect and love for Bandodkar, hailed as a messiah of the "bahujan samaj".
Goa Forward Party leaders Vijai Sardesai and Jayesh Salgaoncar, during the public meeting held on the Opinion Poll day, had warned of pulling out of the government if their demand for Sequeira's statue was not met.
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