Team Herald
VASCO: Vasco MLA Carlos Almeida and former Revenue Minister Jose Philip D’ Souza have announced their panel of candidates for the municipal elections in wards of Vasco constituency.
Terming the last council as “one of the most corrupt”, Almeida stated that he had formed his own panel mainly to give “clean” candidates to the people, which would then help him take up developmental works that have been stalled due to non-cooperation from the councillors.
“For development, I need the support of the council, which can regularly follow-up on the projects. As the support was missing, I had to float my own panel to accomplish my mission of making Vasco a modern town. Also, during the last council’s term, the level of corruption had reached new heights; councillors were seen selling jobs and demanding money from labourers to regularise their services. It’s high time that we stop these corrupt practices and give a transparent and clean administration to the people,” said Almeida while addressing a press conference in Vasco on Thursday,
Almeida’s panel comprises of many new faces, who have promised to maintain stability in the council if elected. His 11 candidates are: Jayant Jadhav (Ward 10), Sandeep Narvekar (Ward 11), Deepak Naik (Ward 12), Krishna Salkar (Ward 13), Nandadeep Raut (Ward 15), Rochna Borkar (Ward 16), Anil Chopdekar (Ward 17), Reema Sonurlekar (Ward 18), Vandana Satardekar (Ward 20), and Yatin Kamurlekar (Ward 21).
Ward 12 candidate Deepak Naik, who is also the BJP Vasco block president, said that the Vasco had been in the hands of few people, who were controlling the councillors through a “remote control”. He urged the people to vote for candidates who are independent, and hence, can make their own decisions.
Meanwhile, former Minister Jose Philip D’ Souza has formed a panel of seven candidates under the banner of Vasco Progressive Front. The candidates are Sajid Shaikh Yakub (Ward 9), Advocate Birendra Singh (Ward 10), Refiuna Monteiro (Ward 14), Abhijeet Salgaonkar (Ward 15), Pascoal D’Souza (Ward 17), Sonia Bicholkar (Ward 18) and Vishal Naik (Ward 19). VPF has also decided to back Rohini Bandodkar from Ward 20.
Addressing newsmen, D’ Souza also promised that his candidates, if elected, would bring stability to the council. He continued, “We have introduced 90 percent new faces in our panel to ensure that corrupt elements stay out of power and development can take place. It is sad that despite having the support of MLA Almeida and Mormugao MLA Milind Naik, the council did not perform at all. The MLAs fooled the councillors for gains and Vasco lost out on development.”
D’Souza added that if his candidates get elected, he will support the panel of industrialist Narayan Bandekar and together form the ruling group in the MMC.
