TEAM HERALD
VASCO: The Goa Pradesh Congress Committee appeared set to begin its 2017 election campaign with an iconic meeting held at the SAG ground, Dabolim on Thursday.
The jagruti (awareness) mela, which was held to question the State government on numerous issues, witnessed for the first time the convergence of Congressmen from the four constituencies in Mormugao.
Addressing the large gathering of party workers, Goa Congress President Luizinho Faleiro accused the BJP government of only fooling Goans while neglecting to solve the issues affecting them. He said, “The BJP said that Congress is corrupt, then they accused us of family Raj, then for illegal mining. They finally gained power, but in the last three years they did not resolved a single issue. On top of it, they started by making thousands of people (mining-workers) unemployed. Now they are harassing poor citizens by imposing several taxes and increasing power and water bills.”
He further said, “From tourism to mining to MOPA, the BJP government is playing dirty politics and that too by disturbing communal harmony in the State. We cannot keep quiet; it is time to come on to the streets, to take up people’s issues. Since May 1 is Labour Day, we are starting our battle of Mission 2017 from this day itself.”
Faleiro also rejected the need for another airport at MOPA. He stated, “If Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar makes a little effort, then Dabolim can get extra land from the navy for setting up various amenities. However, the reports of agencies make it clear that MOPA is economically not viable for Goa, and the State cannot have two airports. Considering this fact, we will not allow the government to go ahead with MOPA.”
Margao MLA and former chief minister Digambar Kamat in his speech said, “This government is not of the poor but of the rich. During my term, I wanted to discourage locals going to casinos and thus, the entry fees at that time were Rs 2000. The BJP government reduced it to Rs 500, and then they gave permissions for more floating casinos. This shows that BJP used people to come to power and then failed to deliver. The Congress is the only option for the people in the next assembly elections.”
The other senior leaders who spoke at the event included Goa’s Leader of the Opposition Pratapsing Rane, MLA Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco, Chandrakant Kavlekar, Sankalp Amonkar, Saifullah Khan and convener of the jagruti melava Anacleto D’Souza.
