By Navneet Mishra

Panaji, Dec 20 (IANS): Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has claimed that the BJP will form the next government with absolute majority in the coastal state after the 2022 Assembly elections.

He dubbed the results of the recent district panchayat elections as a referendum in favour of the BJP, adding that the Goa voters had conveyed that no other party matched the BJP.

On the opposition's efforts to cobble together a political alliance against the BJP for the elections to 40 Assembly seats, he said that it would make no difference to the BJP prospects.

"We won 33 of the 48 seats in district panchayat elections. Both district panchayats are in the BJP's bag. It proves that the people of Goa like the good governance and developmental agenda of the BJP government. The people are sure that the state government and the BJP are working in their interests. The incoming government will also be of the BJP with an absolute majority," the 47-year-old Chief Minister said in an interview to IANS at his official residence 'Mahalakshmi'.

As for the efforts made by Goa Forward Party chief Vijay Sardesai and Nationalist Congress Party leader Praful Patel to forge an alliance against the BJP, Sawant said: "It happens in every election. The BJP is on one side and the rest are on the other side. But, the BJP is not affected at all. We do not do politics. We work for 'antyodaya'."

Pointing out that Goa got independence 14 years after independence of the rest of the country, he said that the coastal state nevertheless continued to progress.

"In the coming two years, Goa will have every necessary infrastructure," he said, adding that his government was focused on making the state number one in the country in terms of infrastructure.

He claimed that certain NGOs and political parties were behind the protests against projects related to power, highway and rail track doubling.

"When developmental projects come to Goa, there are always some NGOs and political parties which oppose them. The Atal bridge project has also been opposed. Now they are protesting over Mollem. We are preserving the wildlife sanctuary at Mollem. Our government is taking care of both environment and development simultaneously."

On mining that has been stopped for the last three years in the state, the Chief Minister said that the Goa government is in touch with the Centre to seek some reforms.

"At present, mining is on in sites allowed by the Supreme Court to be mined," Sawant said, adding that he hoped that the Centre and the Supreme Court would give relief to the state on the mining issue.