Only Damu files nomination for state BJP’s top position

Panaji: With a single nomination for the post of BJP state president on Friday, former Fatorda MLA for two consecutive terms, Damodar ‘Damu’ Naik, will take over as the new BJP state president from the incumbent Sadanand Shet Tanavade on Saturday.
Chief minister Pramod Sawant and Tanavade proposed the name of Naik for the post of president.
TOI was the first to report that Naik was shortlisted to take over as the new president of the party.
After being declared the only nominee for the post of president, Naik said that BJP is the only political party which has the largest number of members, and in Goa, it has 4.5 lakh members.
“I have reached this position from a simple karyakarta. BJP has reached this level only because of the hard work of its old and new karyakartas,” Naik said.
He remembered former chief minister Manohar Parrikar and also credited Union minister for state Shripad Naik, Kerala governor Rajendra Arlekar and former chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar for their contribution in getting BJP to this level.
Naik said that he will take everybody together in the party. “There is a procedure in the party to elect a president, and once the president is elected, everybody works together,” Naik said.
He said that the president’s role is not only to prepare the party to contest elections, but also to strengthen the party and create new leaders like Parrikar and Shripad.
At the age of six, Naik joined the RSS. He joined the BJP in 1994 as a karyakarta and entered active politics in 1999. He became an MLA for the first time in 2002 and for the second time in 2007. Naik lost the 2012 assembly election. From 2002 to 2006, Naik served as the president of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha in Goa.
Since 2012, Naik was a general secretary and spokesperson of the party.
He has acted in and produced movies and even served as chairman of various govt corporations.