TEAM HERALD
MARGAO: Stating that the Congress need not tell the BJP about communalism, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Tuesday said the BJP has not only more number of Catholic MLAs in the party, but the government has resolved many issues, including the contentious Medium of Instruction (MoI), during the last two years.
He exuded confidence that Salcete will make history this time round by giving a sizeable lead to the party candidate going by the response received from the people.
Speaking at a BJP workers meeting at Curtorim assembly segment this evening, Parrikar said the BJP government has taken care of issues affecting all sections of the population, including minorities.
Saying that Goa’s two seats cannot decide the country’s future Prime Minister, Parrikar, however, said that people of Goa can strengthen the hands of his government by electing both BJP candidates. “We need MPs to push for Goa’s development. If we elect both the BJP candidates, we will have the right to ask for special status, mining package, national highway with flyovers and bypasses and also solve CRZ issues facing the coastal belt”, Parrikar told the workers at a well-attended meeting.
The Chief Minister slammed the UPA government for massive corruption during the last 10 years, accusing the government for looting the country to the tune of thousands of crores.
In his address, Deputy Chief Minister Francis D’Souza said the Congress is harping on secularism when the biggest issues affecting the common man are corruption, inflation, internal security, unemployment etc. “The Congress has failed to tackle these burning issues and hence is taking shelter under secularism. Thousands of riots took place in the country over the years, but they only point to the Gujarat riots”, he said.
Asserting that the BJP is not communal, the Deputy Chief Minister said that people from different religious backgrounds and castes have availed of the government schemes in the last two years.
In his address, party candidate Narendra Sawaikar underlined the need to strengthen the party at the booth level, while giving a call to workers to vote for the party and strengthen the hands of Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar.
Former BJP MLA Damu Naik and others were also present. Chief Minster Manohar Parrikar and other leaders later addressed a largely attended meeting of Margao BJP workers at
Brindan hall.
