PANJIM, APRIL 4
Anti-dam activists are fuming over the Nationalist Congress Party’s (NCP) stand that Mhadei river water diversion is a non-issue for forthcoming Lok Sabha poll.
‘No politician in India can survive if he ignores the issue of water security. We were shocked to hear that NCP is not bothered about such crucial issue,’ Mhadei Bachao Abhiyaan (MBA) Convenor Rajendra Kerkar told PTI.
The MBA is disturbed over NCP Goa chief Dr Wilfred de Souza’s statement that Mhadei water diversion by Karnataka is not an issue for the party in Lok Sabha poll.
‘There will be no local issues for NCP during this election. We will fight on the plank of economic crisis and terrorism,’ De Souza had said during a press conference earlier last week.
He had also stated that Mhadei is not an issue for the party. NCP is contesting on North Goa seat through its candidate Jitendra Deshprabhu.
‘When he (Dr De Souza) was the chief minister he did not do anything to solve the issue. He has not done much to resolve the issue in past,’ Kerkar said.
The Congress, however, tried to distance itself from its alliance partner’s view.
‘Mhadei to Goa is what Ganga to India,’ Congress spokesman Ramakant Khalap told PTI
