Goa BJP president Sadanand Shet Tanavade on Friday called for a curb on the mass influx of Trinamool Congress party workers in the state, accusing the West Bengal-based party's cadre of having a 'khooni' (bloody) mentality.
"They have a 'khooni' mentality. People are joining them against their own wishes for fear of their lives. Their politics is vulgar. There should be a control over the volume (of TMC workers) coming into Goa," Tanavade told reporters in Panaji.
The state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president also said that while visits to the poll-bound states by party leaders were fair, the influx of hordes of party workers to a poll-bound state posed concerns.
"Leaders of every party are welcome in Goa, like P. Chidambaram, CT Ravi, (Devendra) Fadnavis. We have no objection to that. If Mamata Banerjee comes to Goa we have no issue. But (the concern) is about the low-level workers. They have a different mentality. They should not get them here to carry out their agenda. They should not do it. A lot of things could happen on account of this," he added.
The issue of an alleged mass influx of TMC workers to Goa was first put in the public domain by the official handle of the Goa BJP, which uploaded a video of Bengali-speaking persons alighting at a Goa railway station.
TMC has claimed that the video is fake.
Tanavade also said that there was a vast gulf between the political cultures in Goa and West Bengal, adding that in West Bengal post-poll violence was common, unlike Goa.
"In Goa, we have a different mentality. Political workers from across parties are not enemies after elections, even though in the run-up to polls political allegations are made. But outside the political realm, we are friends. Finally, we are human beings. But in West Bengal, the nature of politics is different," Tanavade said.
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