PANJIM: Congress has claimed that it stands vindicated on the issue of collapse of governance in the state as Chief Minister has said that his priority would be to get administration streamlined.
Addressing the media at the Congress House in Panjim, Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) President Girish Chodankar said that the new Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant has acknowledged what the Congress party has been stating over the past one year.
“We have been saying that the administration and governance in the State has collapsed and the Chief Minister has now rightly accepted that the administration has collapsed and needs to be streamlined. After taking oath, the chief minister has said that his first priority will be to streamline administration,” he stated.
Whenever we raised the issue, the BJP leaders tried to downplay the issue and the ministers in the cabinet according to what suited them made statements sometimes claiming the administration has collapsed and at times accused the Opposition of diverting from main issues.
Congratulating the Chief Minister, Girish said “The BJP leaders as well the cabinet ministers in the previous government stand exposed by the Chief Minister’s statement. If the administration was fine, the priority would have been something else. There are so many issues right now like finance, mining, etc.”
Taking a jibe at having two deputy chief ministers, Girish said that the Congress has demanded one deputy chief minister so that the late chief minister would have got some rest.
“We had asked for one deputy when the chief minister was ailing, but now we have two deputies when the chief minister is fine. The new CM has proved that he lacks confidence in his own leadership and has therefore appointed two deputies”, he added.
Taking exception to the statement by Deputy Chief Minister Vijai Sardesai that two deputies were appointed to balance power, Girish said, “The chief minister has exposed the two power hungry ministers in his cabinet. Instead of balancing the governance, Vijai says the deputies will balance power.”
Stating that the Congress party would not allow the loot of the State, he said “We congratulate the new chief minister and we are happy to have a full time CM. We also assure him our support in running the State. However, let me also warn him that we will not allow the loot of Goa and compromise of the State’s development.”
