Shripad Naik: Grassroots man and leading light of BJP in Goa

Shripad Naik

New Delhi: Shripad Naik, the BJP's North Goa Member of Parliament who was inducted in the new Union Council of Ministers, has played a key role in growth of the saffron outfit in Goa. Naik, who was part of the Modi government in 2014, won his fifth Lok Sabha election from North Goa. Goa has two Lok Sabha seats and the BJP and the Congress bagged one each in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

By retaining Naik in his new team, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reposed his faith in the 66-year-old BJP veteran. Naik, along with former Goa chief ministers -- Manohar Parrikar and Laxmikant Parsekar -- is credited with expanding the Bharatiya Janata Party's base in the coastal state since 1994. In 1999, he became the first Lok Sabha Member of Parliament of the BJP from Goa. Since then, he has never looked back, winning from his traditional North Goa seat four more times -- in 2004, 2009, 2014 and 2019. Naik defeated Goa Congress president Girish Chodankar by a margin of over 80,000 votes in the 2019 general election. He became a Minister of State handling civil aviation, culture and tourism portfolios during the Modi government's first stint in 2014. Later, he went on to become Minister of State (Independent charge) for AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy).

He has also been responsible for propagating yoga across the world. Naik was considered equal in stature to Parrikar in state politics. He was even talked about as the possible successor to the former Defence minister, when the latter died in March this year, but the baton of chief ministership was handed over to Pramod Sawant. Earlier in the day, Naik said his induction in the new Modi Cabinet was an honour for Goa. "I am thankful to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah for re-selecting me for induction in the cabinet considering my past performance as a Union minister," he said in a statement here. "My re-appointment in the cabinet is an honour for Goa," he said.

Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates