Giriraj Pai Vernekar is a spokesperson for India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Goa Convenor of the party’s policy and research department. He closely worked with the late Manohar Parrikar who served the nation as India’s defense minister and Goa’s chief minister. Giriraj was a deputy director in the defense, security and aerospace department of  the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). He later was a consultant on public policy to CII. Before joining the BJP, he worked at Bharat Forge Limited, a global leader in its field on policy and defense matters.