Churchill is not fit to be minister: Damu
Herald:You enjoyed pretty good relationship with the Alemao’s in recent times. What made you to take the two brothers head on in the just concluded Assembly session.
Damu: There is nothing personal against the Alemao’s. Both Churchill and Joaquim are Ministers holding portfolios. They may be my friends, but my job as a legislator is to expose. In the past, I had spoken against the Chief Minister, Digambar Kamat and Home Minister, Ravi Naik on the law and order front.
Herald: The PWD Minister has strongly denied of any scam in the distribution of water tanks. He has even offered to quit if the tanks have not reached the people.
Damu: First of all, Churchill is not fit to be a Minister. As a Minister, he should be clear on a policy or scheme before distributing the water tanks. I have never raised any objection on the distribution of water tanks. My objection pertains to the absence of any administrative, financial and cabinet approval for the scheme.
Herald: On the water tank distribution, the PWD Minister says you too had asked in writing for the tanks for distribution in your constituency. At what stage, did you decide not to accept the tanks or is it because Alemao gave the tanks to your bete noire Sardessai for distribution in Fatorda.
Damu: I had initially asked for the water tanks, but when I came to know that there’s no such scheme, I immediately lodged my objection. I collected all details fro the engineers and put questions before the Petition Committee and the Budget committee. There is no truth in the allegation that I had raised objections because of Vijay Sardessai.
The water tanks were being distributed for 4-5 months, and Churchill could have stopped the distribution when it became clear there was no scheme.
Herald: Is it a sheer coincidence that when you were attacking Churchill and Joaquim in the Assembly, you made repeated references to the GPCC general secretary Vijay Sardessai. Was you attack indirectly targeted at Sardessai, who is gearing up for yet another electoral battle in Fatorda.
Damu: No, not at all. I have defeated Vijay once, he is a defeated candidate. Vijay is not a question here. There is a need to crack down on illegal activities.
Herald: When you were demanding a Joint Assembly Committee to probe into the alleged water tank distribution scam, you did not receive much support from your party colleagues. Did you later expressed your resentment to your party which made opposition leader Manohar Parrikar to demand the JAC the next day of the session.
Damu: My party leaders were firmly behind me on the issue when I was demanding JAC to probe into the distribution of water tanks.
My job was to expose the scam in the House, which I have done successfully. Those who are involved in the scam will now face the music.
Herald: Coming to Fatorda politics, how strong are you in the constituency since a major chunk of your vote bank is now part of neighbouring Curtorim constituency.
Damu: I am 100 percent sure in my constituency. Vijay Sardessai cannot say that I have lost my grip over the constituency. He should tell the name of one candidate who has defeated BJP candidate in the Municipal polls.
Moreover, Vijay should remember that Councilors Tito Cardozo, Arthur D’Silva, Raju Naik and Carmeena were not elected under his banner.
Herald: You gave a call to the people of Navelim to dump Churchill in the hustings. And, you also publicly admitted that the BJP made a mistake by not fielding a candidate against Churchill in the 2001 polls. Did the BJP made the genuine mistake in not fielding a candidate in Navelim or was it part of a secret tie-up with Alemao to take on the Congress in the last elections.
Damu: Our main aim in the 2007 polls was to defeat the Congress and people voted for Churchill because he was anti-congress and the BJP had some sort of secret alliance in Navelim. But, the PWD Minister ditched and backstabbed the people for his own selfish benefit by joining the Congress.
Herald: Will the BJP support Churchill Alemao if he comes out of the Congress again before the coming Assembly polls.
Damu: The BJP is a national party. We have to keep away people who are corrupt and who has the history of defection. We would support clean and honest faces to give a honest, clean and stable government to Goans.
