MARGAO: A huge rally was held in Margao as Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) members observed first anniversary of the defection of eight Congress MLAs to the BJP as ‘Black Day’.
The rally which started outside their South Goa office culminated with the burning of the effigies of these eight MLAs.
GPCC President Amit Patkar slammed the defectors for having betrayed not just the mandate of those who got them elected but also the State at large, given that the same MLAs had contested against the BJP. He also accused the defected MLAs of having received financial or other type of benefits for jumping from Congress to BJP, with no care for the electorate.
Patkar targeted Margao MLA Digambar Kamat, who was the then Leader of Opposition, for being the one who suggested that all the candidates take pledge in front of places of worship, only to take a complete U-turn later by claiming he spoke to God personally and got permission to defect.
“People will send godman Digambar Kamat home forever. GPCC will open Jan Sampark office for people of Margao soon. All the defectors will be sent home,” said Patkar.
The GPCC president also praised the three party MLAs who had stayed loyal to the party and said the other eight MLAs also should have remained loyal. This would have led to having a strong opposition against the present BJP-led State government.
Patkar added that the Chief Minister and the BJP have already started with campaigns to polarise the people and it was shameful that these eight defectors have kept quiet, which was hypocritical on their part, given how they used to attack the BJP for exactly these reasons and more.
