TEAM HERALD
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MARGAO: The Goa Pradesh Congress minority department has urged the party high command to give the North Goa Lok Sabha ticket to a new face from the Bhandari Samaj and not to replace GPCC president Subhash Shirodkar till the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
A delegation of the GPCC minority department led by Convenor Urfan Mulla called on the political advisor to Congress President, Sonia Gandhi, Ahmed Patel and discussed the problems faced by the minorities in Goa and the prevailing political scenario.
Mulla said the delegation told Ahmed Patel that the GPCC chief should not be blamed for the party’s fiasco in Goa, and attributed the poll debacle to the MoI issue and mining. “We requested Ahmed Patel to ensure that the Congress candidate for the North Goa seat should be announced six months prior to the polls. The person with a mass base or new face with good image should be from the Bhandari Samaj since the BJP North Goa MP also hails from the same community”, he said.
The delegation complained to Patel that many a Central scheme meant for the minorities have not been implemented in Goa. Mulla said that the minorities were ignored by the Congress government in the implementation of the PM’s 15-point programme.
The delegation called for improving access to school education, greater resources for teaching Urdu, besides modernising Madarassa education, scholarships for meritorious students from the minorities, improved educational infrastructure through the Maulana Azad Education Foundation, self employment and wage employment for the poor.
The delegation also called for the independent functioning of the Minority Department on the lines of NSUI and Youth Congress. “Both Ahmad Patel and Durani, in charge of minority of India, AICC secretary have assured full support in the opening of the minority office in Goa to be run independently with the help of party president”, Mulla said.
The delegation also met Farooq Abdullah, central minister for renewable energy, besides External affairs minister Salman Kurshid, Raj Babbar and other MPs and discussed the minority issues with them.
