PANJIM: Congress has in principle agreed to the demands of special status and if the party comes to power at the Centre in 2019, Goa’s land will be protected, Goa Pradesh Congress Committee president and North Goa candidate Girish Chodankar stated.
Informing that Congress President Rahul Gandhi has assured to protect the State’s interest, Chodankar said, “When our party president Rahul Gandhi was in Goa and various delegations met him, he assured that we can work it out by making some amendments. It need not be termed directly as special status as we are not asking for any special package. Our basic concern is how to protect our land which is scarce.”
Stating that the issue would also be addressed in the party’s local manifesto, he further said, “Our party president has agreed in-principle to that concern and he has also given us freedom and we will be releasing our State-specific manifesto soon.”
Cong has raised six issues which the party claimed the BJP governments, both at the Centre and the State, had promised to resolve but have not fulfilled. “We will be coming with our manifesto which will have our plans and solutions and therefore we are raising these questions. They governed the country and the State for five years and therefore the onus was on them to resolve these issues”, Chodankar stated.
