Confusion in BJP's Goa unit over powerful secretary's 'transfer'

The transfer of influential state BJP organising secretary Satish Dhond to Maharashtra appears to have created confusion in the rank and file of the BJP cadre as well as the top state leadership.

Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar on Saturday said Dhond had been transferred to Thane in Maharashtra, while BJP state unit president Vinay Tendulkar, who has been peppered with 119 representations from state party leaders demanding a stay on the transfer, insisted that he has not been intimated by the party high command "about any transfer".

"He (Dhond) has been transferred to Thane, but that will have no impact on Goa," Parsekar told reporters here, even as Tendulkar told IANS over phone that he has had "no intimation from the party high command about any transfer".

Media reports earlier said Dhond, who was referred to as 'Super CM' in the state's power corridors, thanks to his proximity to Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, has been transferred as the organising secretary in-charge of Thane.

Party sources said the ruling BJP's lackluster performance in the recently concluded zilla panchayat elections, in which the party narrowly scraped through, had dented Dhond's clout in the party, which could have led to his transfer.

"Some of the decisions taken during the zilla panchayat elections were inexplicable. There were also reports about some legislators complaining about Dhond's bossy attitude," a senior party leader said on condition of anonymity.

Traditionally, the post of the organising secretary is manned by a direct nominee of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and wields considerable clout in matters of governance as well as organisational matters of the party.

Dhond and Parrikar have been credited with being the architects of the party's victory in the 2012 state assembly polls, in which the BJP won an unprecedented simple majority in the state, where Catholics account for nearly 26 percent of the population.

While Dhond preferred to not comment on the issue, sources close to him said that the organising secretary was willing to "abide by any decision taken by the party high command".

Tendulkar, however, told IANS that Dhond's performance had been stellar both in Goa as well as Daman and Diu, where he had served before being posted to the coastal state.

"I have received as many as 119 memorandums, which have demanded that Dhond should not be transferred and that he should continue as state organising secretary because of his good performance," Tendulkar said.