Minorities will flourish under BJP, claims CM

TEAM HERALD

teamherald@herald-goa.com

MARGAO:  In a fresh bid to woo the minorities towards the BJP, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Sunday guaranteed the minorities that they will not only receive special status from the BJP, but also flourish along with other people of Goa and India in general.

Parrikar’s assurance came after Fisheries Minister Avertano Furtado told the people in the presence of the Chief Minister that he would not hesitate to walk out of the government if he comes across any harm or injustice to the minorities. 

“There are some people who are creating confusion. The Congress is portraying BJP as communal. I want to guarantee the Catholic and Muslim brethren that the minorities will flourish under the BJP along with other people of Goa and India,” he said, while addressing an impressive meeting of BJP at Navelim on Sunday.

Saying that the Congress campaign has got punctured in both -- North and South Goa, Parrikar said the Congress has outsourced the South Goa congress candidate campaign to Independent MLA Vijai Sardessai, resulting in the exodus of congressmen from the party.

In his address, Fisheries Minister Avertano Furtado said the Catholic MLAs in the BJP government will approach Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar if the minorities face any communalism threat. 

“I know the Chief Minister is not communal and neither is Narendra Sawaikar. The CM has not discriminated between Hindus, Christians and Muslims during the last two years,” Avertano said, while exuding confidence that the Chief Minister will take all communities together in the path of progress and development.

In his address, candidate Narendra Sawaikar said that Goa has witnessed tremendous development after the 2012 parivartan. He said Goa should elect the BJP candidates in the coming poll to strengthen the hands of the Parrikar government.

Sawaikar said the Congress had failed to give special status, while assuring that the BJP will give special status for Goa.  He reassured that the Dabolim airport will not be closed down as he slammed the opposition for raising the airport issue. 

Taking a dig at the Congress for dubbing the BJP as communal, the Benaulim MLA demanded to know why the Congress government could not change the IFFI festival date when the party was in power. 

And, he told the people that the BJP government has earmarked Rs 10 crore to tone up infrastructure during the Old Goa Exposition.