Team Herald
MAYEM: One day after the Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) president joined Santosh Sawant on his door-to-door campaign, the Goa Forward Party received a further boost in Mayem on Thursday, when former CM and Leader of the Opposition Digambar Kamat also moved from house to house with Sawant and his supporters.
Kamat was accompanied by Congress spokesperson Amarnath Panjikar. They, along with Sawant, GFP General Secretary Durgadas Kamat and Congress and GFP workers, first offered prayers at the Shri Lairaee Temple, Shirgao before setting out on the campaign trail.
Speaking to those assembled, Panjikar said, “I promise the full support of all Congressmen in Mayem to Sawant. We have to send Santosh to the Assembly. Mayemkars have to make their vote talk and send the BJP home for neglecting Mayem. The mining closure has destroyed Mayem’s economy. Today, 300 tipper trucks in Shirgao are rusting to pieces and all mining dependents are unemployed and buried under loans & poverty. It is high time this irresponsible and shameless BJP was rejected.”
Digambar Kamat said that, during the last 10-15 days, he has been moving all over Goa. “I can sense the determination of Goan voters all over to keep the BJP far away from power. Even in the CM’s constituency, Sankhalikars do not speak one good word about him. I have campaigned there with Dharmesh Saglani, and I am sure he will win hands down,” said Kamat and reminded the people of the 5 years of the Congress government under him.
“That was when the economy flourished. The common man had money in his pocket. There were ‘5 years of prosperity’. Against this, the BJP rule has finished Goa’s economy. It has been ‘10 years of poverty’. We have to ask just one question – who stopped mining? It was a BJP CM who told the nation, ‘I stopped mining’. The result is that Goans have lost all the prosperity they enjoyed during the Congress rule. I ask Mayemkars, is your evacuee property problem solved? The BJP passed a bill in the Assembly. It turned out to be just another ‘jumla’. The problem remains. But, once our government takes charge, we will employ the best legal minds and solve the issue. There are so many issues the COVID mismanagement, corruption in medicines, job scam – the list is endless. 5 years ago, the people of Goa reduced the BJP from 21 to 13 in the assembly. But we could not form the government. This time the BJP will go down further from 13 to 8. I am sure a Congress-GFP government will be formed and we promise to act as per the people’s wishes. But this will happen only when you vote for the right candidate. And in Mayem, the right candidate is Santosh Sawant. Vote for him and you will never regret it,” he concluded.
