NDA will pick Goa RS poll nominee through consensus: GFP

The Goa Forward Party (GFP) leader Vijai Sardesai today said the NDA's nominee for election to the lone Rajya Sabha seat in Goa would be selected through consensus and the ruling BJP will not thrust its choice on allies.
The election is necessitated as the term of sitting Rajya Sabha MP Shantaram Naik (Congress) is coming to end.
The election, which was scheduled to be held earlier this month, had been postponed by Election Commission.
Apart from GFP, the Maharashtravadi Gomantak Party (MGP) and three Independents are part of the BJP-led NDA in the state under Manohar Parrikar.
"We (Goa Forward) is a part of NDA and we will unitedly decide the candidate for the Rajya Sabha seat in Goa," Sardesai told reporters today while dismissing that selection of the candidate could be a cause of discord in the state government.

"Many people are waiting for the government to break up. There is no reason to believe that the BJP will push down their choice of candidate down the throat of alliance partners," the minister said.
He said the BJP (12) and GFP (3) together cannot get their candidate elected for Rajya Sabha.
"All the parties in the ruling government will have to come together to get their candidate elected," he said, adding that GFP has no intention to field its nominee as the party is more interested in focussing on the issues concerning Goa.