Team Herald
PANJIM: Condemning the rattled BJP government’s attempts to stop its corner meetings as part of the Vij Andolan on Saturday, the Aam Aadmi Party said the movement will now be intensified and announced that New Delhi MLA Raghav Chadha will be addressing the meeting on December 6, at Guirim.
Briefing the media persons, local AAP leader Valmiki Naik announced that Chadha who had responded to State’s Power Minister Nilesh Cabral’s call for a public debate on the power issue, will be addressing the meeting scheduled on Sunday at 6 pm which will be held near the Government Primary School, at Namoxim.
He said, “AAP’s two meetings scheduled on Friday were prohibited by the BJP ministers as they were to be held in their constituencies. In the first, place Power Minister Nilesh Cabral sent three jeeps of police personnel at the ground in Xeldem where the meeting was scheduled.”
In the second instance the Vij Andolan meeting scheduled at Valpoi was abruptly cancelled as police arrested AAP leader Sandesh Telekar even as he was addressing the people.
He said that Valpoi is represented by Health Minister Vishwajit Rane.
“The tremendous response from the people to our Vij Andolan which has been going on for four days has rattled the government so much that it disrupted two of our meetings on the fourth day of the movement,” he said adding that such tactics will not discourage AAP but instead they will intensify the movement.
“It is heartening to note that while earlier the AAP was asking why the Delhi model of power supply cannot be replicated in Goa, today common Goan is asking why they cannot get uninterrupted power supply and why they do not get 200 units of free electricity supply per month as is happening in Delhi,” he said.
Replying to a question, he said, “The AAP had started the process of participating in the Zilla Parishad elections when they were announced earlier in March.”
“Though the elections were postponed due to the pandemic, our work of contacting the people continued and we had the Oximeter campaign and now have the Vij Andolan,” he said.
Expressing confidence that the ZP elections will show the success of the Aam Aadmi Party in Goa, he said AAP has fielded 21 candidates for the ZP elections.