Not aware if Congress rebels were promised positions: BJP Goa

PANAJI: Stating that he is not aware whether any posts were promised to eight rebel Congress MLAs, BJP's Goa desk in-charge C.T. Ravi on Tuesday said that the Chief Minister, not him, has the power to reshuffle cabinet.

He was addressing the media after attending the core committee meeting of the BJP, here.

"You are asking the right question to the wrong person about reshuffle. I am not aware if they (8 MLAs who joined BJP) were promised any post while joining BJP. You (media) want masala. My work is only to make the organisation strong," Ravi said responding to a question about cabinet reshuffle.

Since the last three months there is a buzz in the political circle that the cabinet reshuffle will take place in the state.

On September 14, former Chief Minister Digambar Kamat, Michael Lobo, Delilah Lobo, Kedar Naik, Sankalp Amonkar, Rajesh Faldesai, Aleixo Sequeira and Rudolf Fernandes merged the Congress with BJP, reducing Congress's strength to three in the 40-member Assembly. Since then there are speculations that along with Kamat other two MLAs will be inducted in the cabinet.

"Reshuffle is not my work, the Chief Minister has power for it. If he wants he can do it. Only the party can give some suggestions. This issue was not discussed in the meeting," C.T. Ravi said.

He also rubbished the rumours that these eight MLAs were unhappy for not being given any posts. "All of them were present when the Prime Minister visited Goa. All eight MLAs are happy and satisfied," he said.

"I am doing work for an organisation. We conduct meetings with a view to give good governance and to implement good practices of other states here. We discussed how to make Goa stronger in future," he said.

On the border issue of Belagavi, he said that it has been going on since the last 65 years and the matter is in the court.

"We are not here to debate, but to connect. They have border disputes but they (Maharashtra and Karnataka) also share cultural relations. They have the same culture, language may be different. But there are relations in language too. There are many common words in both languages. Matter is in court, we need to obey the court's order," he said.