PANAJI:  The Bharatiya Janata Party declared Mr Santosh Haldankar, a long-time party worker from Valpoi representing Bahujan Samaj as its candidate, to contest the assembly by-election for the constituency, scheduled next month. Mr Haldankar is expected to file his nomination papers on Tuesday.

Coming out with this information on Sunday, the president of the state unit of the BJP, Mr Laxmikant Parseker said the by-poll would be a contest between the money power of the Congress candidate, Mr Vishwajeet Rane and the strength of the BJP workers.
“We would be fighting this election on the issues of corruption of the state government, lack of development in the Valpoi constituency, as well as illegal mining activities carried out in the Valpoi region,” he added, pointing out that the people of Valpoi must now decide as to whether they should elect Mr Rane and get the forested area in the constituency converted into illegal mining zone or vote for the BJP candidate.
The press briefing was also attended by the desk in-charge of the BJP for Goa, Ms Aarti Mehra, the leader of the Opposition, Mr Manohar Parrikar, the previous BJP MLA from Valpoi constituency, Mr Narahari Haldankar and Mr Santosh Haldankar.
Stating that Mr Rane has forced the by-election on the people of Valpoi through his resignation as an MLA, Mr Parsekar said the by-poll has brought the North Goa under the election code of conduct, thus hampering the development of the state during the period.
“Mr Rane’s act of resigning before the end of his term in the assembly also proves that he considers election as a child’s play and gives no respect to the electoral process,” he noted.
Mr Parsekar also said that by allowing Mr Rane to contest the Valpoi assembly by-poll, the Congress has changed its policy of not giving election tickets to more than one person in a family. “This is a clear indication that the next assembly election would have families contesting election on Congress tickets, and constituencies becoming political estates of select families,” he observed.
Ms Mehra, addressing the media said the Congress always believed in political legacy, wherein only members of certain families are allowed to contest election on the Congress tickets. “This tradition begins from the Gandhi-Nehru family and moves downwards,” Ms Mehra maintained, adding that such tradition has given way for over confidence, egoistic behaviour and dictatorial rule on the part of Congress politicians. “The people will see though this tradition and defeat Mr Rane at the Valpoi assembly by-poll,” she added.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr Parrikar said that Mr Rane has created a false notion among public that he is developing his constituency and providing jobs to the youth. “However, all the developmental works in Valpoi, including construction of the Satrem bridge, are incomplete, and jobs have been given to around 300 youth from the constituency, while around 3,500 youth are still unemployed,” the  opposition leader informed, noting that the jobs provided to the 300 youth mostly falls under D Class category, such as patient attendants, etc, and these youth spent most of the money in their transportation, for regularly commuting from Valpoi to Goa Medical College hospital or Hospicio Hospital.
Mr Santosh Haldankar told the pressmen that the people of Valpoi are aware about many of the illegal mines in the region being operated with the blessing of Mr Rane. “They are also unhappy with Mr Rane, as he is unavailable to them for at least half of the year,” the BJP candidate stated, pointing out that he is the resident of Valpoi, and would be always available to his voters, 24-hours a day.