PANJIM: All India Congress Committee (AICC) in-charge of Goa, Manickam Tagore, on Saturday accused BJP and RSS for playing with the sentiments of Goa and Karnataka on the contentious inter-State Mhadei River water diversion issue.
Addressing mediapersons, Tagore accused the BJP Central leadership for trying to create rift among the two States — Goa and Karnataka — for election purpose. He said that he will support Congress North Goa Lok Sabha Member of Parliament Francisco Sardinha on Mhadei issue in the Parliament.
Earlier, Sardinha said that he will raise Mhadei issue during the ongoing Parliament session. “Whenever Sardinha raises issue in the Parliament, I will support him and also appeal to other Congress MPs to support it,” said Tagore.
Tagore, who was appointed as Goa in-charge last month, said that the Chief Minister Pramod Sawant should show courage and condemn Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s remark on Mhadei. He accused that for BJP more important is election and for Congress rights of Goa people.
“Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant should show courage to condemn remarks of Amit Shah, who has taken away rights of people. Congress stands for Goa’s welfare and will be with people. We will fight for the rights of the people,” he said.
“Congress has never created rifts between States. We have always dealt with such issues on an emotional level. The BJP is doing this (creating rifts) to increase their seats in Karnataka during Lok Sabha election. BJP is in a panic situation, because they are losing seats there,” the AICC leader said.
Further speaking, Tagore said that head of 2024 Lok Sabha election efforts would be to rebuild the Goa Congress unit.
“Congress is making all preparations to come back to Goa in its original shape and we are rebuilding our organisation. We want to win the hearts of people by winning both seats of Goa in the Lok Sabha election in 2024,” he said.
He said that Congress in Goa is building new leadership by respecting also ‘old’ (senior) leadership. “With blessings of seniors, we will build Congress again,” he said.
Earlier, Congress State President Amit Patkar said, “If the Goa Chief Minister doesn’t condemn Shah’s remarks by Friday, it will prove ‘Goa has sold Mhadei River to Karnataka for politics’.”
“No amount of statements by proxy ministers is sufficient for the people of Goa. Goa wants to know the truth only from the mouth of Pramod Sawant. We are giving him one-week time,” Patkar said quoting the resolution passed at the meeting.
