Panaji, A Catholic BJP MLA in Goa has demanded 35 per cent tickets for members of the minority community for the 2022 state assembly polls.

 

Speaking to reporters, Carlos Almeida, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator from the Vasco assembly constituency said the BJP has returned to power in Goa -- a state where minorities account for almost 33 per cent of the nearly 1.5 million population.

"In 2012, then CM Manohar Parrikar gave seats to minorities. That time, he got 21 seats plus for the BJP in Goa. Second time, in 2017, Parrikar gave a lot of seats to minorities, again we formed the government but with less seats," Almeida told reporters.

"Later (in 2019), 10 Congress MLAs joined BJP, out of which 8 are minorities," he said, referring to the merger of 10 Congress MLAs into the BJP in 2019.

Currently, 15 out of the 27 BJP MLAs are Catholics.

Almeida has now demanded the BJP should allocate at least 35 percent tickets to the state's 40 assembly seats to minority candidates, so that Catholics come on board with the BJP.

"My request to the party is to give 35 per cent seats to minorities again. So minorities will come on board with the BJP," he said.