Panaji: BJP Curchorem MLA and former minister Nilesh Cabral said he may have to rethink whether to seek the party ticket for the 2027 assembly elections, claiming BJP did not adequately recognise his work after he stepped down as a minister on party orders.In an interview with Prudent Media, Cabral said that despite being a performing minister, he was not even offered the chairmanship of a corporation after making way in the cabinet for Nuvem MLA Aleixo Sequeira.“The question today is not whether they won’t give me the ticket. The question is whether I should seek the ticket… Am I not capable of becoming a minister? Whatever ministry I was given, didn’t I do a good job? Fine, I stepped down as a minister. Was I not worth being given chairmanship of a corporation? Am I so bad? I have run Goa Tourism Development Corporation and made it profitable. I was chairperson there for seven years,” Cabral said.He also said he felt bad that when Sequeira later had to give up his ministerial berth due to ill health, BJP did not return to Cabral and instead inducted Digambar Kamat.“I was told that eight of them are coming (MLAs from Congress to join BJP), and one of them has been promised. Who that one was — Aleixo or Digambar — I did not know. Two were not promised. So automatically, if Aleixo was given first, it means he was promised. Suddenly, he (Digambar) came (into the cabinet). I am a human being. I am a three-time BJP MLA, always worked with the party, and did what the party told me to do,” Cabral said.He said BJP’s functioning is very different from when he began his political career with the party, and alleged that in several parts of Goa, elements within the party are working against local MLAs.“The party has not changed; those running the party have changed. The party line and other things may be good. But those at the helm of affairs at Centre and here have changed. Everyone knows it. BJP gave me respect. Manohar Parrikar gave me a ticket. I always stood by BJP. But what is happening now is a lot of backstabbing. In many areas, it is BJP versus BJP. Today, whether functionaries who are the helm of affairs have control of the party is a big question mark,” he said.
