Goa CM blames Church for LS defeat

Goa's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party feels that the Gujarat riots of 2002 affected its performance in the state in the Lok Sabha elections.

In an interview to a local English daily, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar said Christians in the state perceived the Gujarat events as an attack on minorities.

He alleged that Christian leaders, including the archbishop, signalled the community to vote against the BJP.

The BJP could retain only one of the two seats in the state.

Though Christians constitute only 26 per cent of Goa's population, they are primarily concentrated in three talukas, mainly in the south. BJP lost the South Goa seat.

The BJP chief minister, whose coalition government is supported by at least four Christian MLAs, alleged that the whole Church machinery, including the village priests, actively worked for the Congress in the election.