BJP to target 26 seats in next Goa assembly polls

The BJP will aim to win 26 out of the 40 seats in the Goa legislative assembly in the next elections, newly re-elected Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state president Vinay Tendulkar said on Monday.

Tendulkar was elected unanimously as the state president for the second consecutive term that will see him at the helm of the ruling party when Goa goes to polls, either later this year or early next year.

"From zero seats some years back, the BJP won an unprecedented simple majority of 21 seats in the 2012 assembly elections. We have to raise it to 26 seats next time," said Tendulkar, a former legislator from Sanvordem constituency.

Tendulkar also exhorted party workers to work with feverish passion, in the months leading to the polls and asked them to respond aggressively to criticism of the BJP-led coalition government.

The BJP-led coalition government in the state also comprises the Maharastrawadi Gomantak Party and a handful of independent legislators, with whom the party had entered into a pre-poll alliance.