Team Herald
PANJIM: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has challenged Goa Assembly Speaker Ramesh Tawadkar to resign and contest the by-election as an independent candidate.
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Reacting to Tawadkar’s statement that he had offered to resign from his post complaining that the Cabinet Ministers and the Chief Minister, had failed to show the necessary respect for his role, the AAP said, “Live up to your own words by quitting.”
AAP Goa vice-president Sunil Signapurkar said, “Tawadkar’s recent criticism of the BJP’s culture of defections is a classic case of “Sau choohey khaakar billi Haj ko chali.” After enjoying all the perks of his position and being part of the BJP’s ‘illegitimate’ government, Tawadkar was now pretending to take the moral high ground, he added.
Despite having disqualification petitions against defectors on his desk for years, Tawadkar failed to act. Instead, he allowed the “choryecho sarkaar” (stolen government) to continue while comfortably enjoying the perks of being Speaker, a position ranked higher than even a Cabinet Minister.
“If he truly believes in what he says, Tawadkar should resign as Speaker and MLA and BJP member. We challenge him to contest as an independent candidate against BJP in a by-election, even AAP will support him if he lives up to his words,” stated Signapurkar.
AAP general secretary (campaign) Francis Coelho ridiculed Chief Minister Pramod Sawant’s attempt to distance BJP leaders from the cash-for-jobs scam, calling the Goa Police press conference a “scripted farce” and called it a “shameless cover-up.” Coelho pointed out that the Goa Police’s confirmation of the scam’s existence since 2014 directly implicates the BJP-led govt.
, which has been in power throughout this period. He also questioned the lack of action on previous exposes, such as Revenue Minister Atanasio ‘Babush’ Monserrate’s revelation against the then PWD Minister in early 2022.
The AAP demanded an independent and impartial investigation into the job scam, as the BJP’s controlled probes have only deepened the public’s mistrust in the system. The Chief Minister must answer for his government’s failures, Coelho said.
