Panaji: Four months after the death of Manohar Parrikar, there are murmurs that the BJP-led coalition government in Goa is removing members of the once formidable 'Parrikar clique' from positions of influence in the state.
Vinay Tendulkar, president of the state unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has denied accusations of a purge against the Gaud Saraswat Brahmin (GSB) clan to which the late Parrikar belonged. Parrikar was chief minister when he died.
On Sunday, Pandurang alias Bhai Naik, an influential BJP leader from South Goa, publicly read out the names of eight GSB individuals including politicians, administrators, lawyers and doctors, closely linked to Parrikar, who lost their official position after Pramod Sawant replaced Parrikar as chief minister in March.
"Why is the Saraswat community being targeted? Maybe I am the first person to bring it out so openly. I don't know what action BJP will take against me, but I am proud to be a Saraswat," Naik told IANS.
Naik, son of former cabinet minister Babu Naik, has been a member of the BJP's national executive and is currently a member of the party's state executive, the Goa BJP's highest decision-making body.
Naik claims the recent sacking of Cabinet Ministers Vijai Sardesai and Rohan Khaunte, removal of former advocate general Dattaprasad Lawande and additional solicitor general of India Atmaram Nadkarni, ouster of vice chairman of the Entertainment Society of Goa Rajendra Talak and Santosh Kenkre, vice chairman of the Economic Development Corporation, all of whom are Saraswats, amounts to targeting of the community by "someone wielding power".
"I don't know who is doing it. But these are too many coincidences which are rolling out one after the other," Naik said. Last week, a video alleging the selective targeting of the GSB community, especially ministers, went viral on social media.