'Ex-Goa Minister tried to blackmail BJP into giving his wife a ticket'

Panaji, Jan 12 (IANS) Accusing the party's now former MLA and Ports Minister Michael Lobo of blackmail, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national general secretary CT Ravi on Wednesday said Lobo quit the party because he was trying to blackmail the BJP into allotting an assembly election ticket for his wife."Some people tried to blackmail... Blackmail politics will not work in BJP. Some people tried to work in the interest of family expansion. Expansion politics will not work too. That is why they left BJP," Ravi told reporters here.Lobo, who quit the party last week, joined the Congress party along with his wife Delilah on Tuesday, while accusing the BJP of ignoring party workers."He demanded a ticket for his wife. The BJP refused. He tried to field his candidates in two other constituencies, but the BJP refused. That is why he left," Ravi maintained.The BJP national general secretary also said that the Congress in Goa may not even win three to four seats in the upcoming polls."Surveys say that the Congress will win three to four seats. They will not even get three-four seats," Ravi said.The Congress won 17 seats in the 2017 state assembly polls, but the BJP outmanoeuvred the single-largest party, by stringing together an alliance and forming a government in the coastal state.
--IANS maya/pgh

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